What do the 2017 changes to PRINCE2 mean for existing practitioners?

During 2017 there have been a number of changes to the PRINCE2 qualification scheme. One of these changes sees the re-registration exam discontinued – so what does this mean for existing practitioners and how can you keep your registered practitioner status now?

Currently, PRINCE2 practitioners are asked to take a one-hour exam every three to five years in order to show that they still have up-to-date knowledge of the PRINCE2 methodology. Keeping your qualification up to date by doing this would earn you the badge of “registered PRINCE2 Practitioner” and was welcomed by the industry as a great way of showing that you had not let your knowledge slide.

The re-registration exam was a cut down version of the full practitioner exam, lasting only 1 hour.

The changes, which will be coming into force on the 1st of January 2018, mean that PRINCE2 practitioners can chose from two different routes to keep their qualification up to date.

  1. Sit the full, 2.5-hour, practitioner exam again.
  2. Become and remain an Axelos member, plus undertake continuous professional development activities to accrue CPD points. You will need to collect 20 points per year.

With the first, we can be fairly certain of the costs involved – it’s going to be about the same as the cost to take your original qualification. This could be up to three times the cost of the current re-registration options available, plus study time.

The second option is still unclear. There is the initial cost of joining Axelos which is currently £50 per year . However, as yet we do not know the time and cost involved in collecting 20 CPD points per year.

Furthermore, where PRINCE2 practitioners used to be able to wait up to 5 years before re-registering, the new scheme specifies that the exam or CPD points collection must be completed within three years.

So, overall it has become a lot tougher and more expensive to maintain your PRINCE2 practitioner qualification.

Whilst this could be a welcome shake up, giving PRINCE2 practitioners the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and commitment to the methodology, for most people it has come as a bit of a shock – the time and money has simply not been budgeted for. We expect it will hit the contractor market especially hard.

It is however possible to beat the changes. The re-registration exam is still available until the 31st of December 2017 and anyone passing the exam before that date will be a registered practitioner under the existing qualification scheme – giving you a full five years before you need to re-qualify under the new scheme.

To help even further, we are offering a £100 discount on our re-registration online training and exam until the end of November. To claim your discount visit our PRINCE2 Re-registration webpage purchase the package online, the discount will be applied automatically.

If you’ve still got questions about the new PRINCE2 qualification scheme please get in touch, we would be happy to help you.

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