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Continuing Education

Continuing education (CE) is learning that helps fulfill the knowledge required to maintain a standard of professional competence and remain current in an ever-changing industry. Under Council Rule 7(5), insurance licensees must meet the requirements of the Insurance Council's continuing education program.

New CE Guidelines Effective June 1, 2021
Starting June 1, 2021, the Insurance Council introduced new Continuing Education Guidelines for all Insurance Council licensees. Guidelines are provided for each licence class, and describe the CE requirements that licensees must meet annually.

These guidelines replace the previous CE Guidelines including prior practice advisory Notices for CE.

Under Council Rule 7(5), insurance licensees must meet the requirements of the Insurance Council's continuing education program.   
 
CE Guidelines by Licence Class

About the New CE Guidelines
What’s Changed

Q&A on the Guidelines
Info session Recording

CE Guidelines by Licence Class

The CE guidelines comprise four separate guideline documents, available to view or download below:
 

Life and/or Accident & Sickness Insurance AgentsContinuing Education Guideline Program for General Insurance Agents and SalesContinuing Education Guideline Program for Adjusters• Continuing Education Guideline Program for Exempt Travel Agents

Guideline Overview

See the video below for a quick overview of the new CE guidelines:

 

Annual CE Credit Requirements

Starting in June 1, 2021, licensees must annually complete the following amount of CE credits for the licence period between June 1 - May 31.

The exception to this is Travel Agency Employees/Salespersons who must complete their CE credits based on the calendar year (January-December).
 
Licence Class Number of Credits Required
Life and/or Accident & Sickness Insurance Agents 15 credits
General Insurance Agents and Salespersons 8 credits
Insurance Adjusters 8 credits
Travel Agency Employees/Salespersons* 2 credits
Motor Vehicle Dealer's Licensed Representative 1 credit

*See information above regarding CE for travel agents.

CE Record-Keeping Requirements

Licensees are required to keep records of completed CE for five (5) licence periods. Records should indicate proof of course attendance or completion issued by the provider including the licensee’s full name, the course name and description, the course provider’s name, date of course completion, as well as the relevant course content and number of eligible CE credits.

An optional form is included in Appendix 1 of the CE Guidelines to help licensees track CE credits and keep records organized. Please note this form does not replace the requirement to retain a record of course completion.

Examples of CE records:

  • CE certificates provided by the course provider;

  • Attendance sheets provided by the course provider; or

  • Written correspondence from the course provider confirming that the course was completed.
     

To help you keep track of your CE credits, we developed a CE Self-Tracker within the online portal to determine the amount of credits required for the licensing periord. Learn more here.

CE Requirements for Non-Resident Licensees

Non-resident licensees whose home jurisdiction has a mandatory continuing education requirement are exempt from the Insurance Council of BC’s Continuing Education Program requirements, provided they are meeting the requirement of their home jurisdiction and their licence is in good standing.

Except for as noted above, non-resident applicants and licensees are subject to the same rules and requirements as licensees who reside in BC.

What's Changed in the New Guidelines

 

  • ​Licensees in each class of licence are required to complete the same number of CE credits for that class of licence, regardless of the number of years licensed or additional professional designations.

  • Starting 2021, if you receive your licence in the three months before the end of the licence period (i.e., between March 1 and May 31), the CE requirements for that first licence period is waived.

  • You can carry over up to one year’s worth of CE credits to the next licence period.

  • CE credits for a course can only be used once towards your CE requirements every three licence periods, unless the course content has substantially changed to warrant retaking the course.

  • There is no maximum amount of course credits that can be claimed, and no daily credit maximum.

  • Partial credits can be claimed in increments of 15 minutes for courses that are less than one hour in length. A minimum of 15 minutes of instruction time amounts to 0.25 credits.

Q&A on the New CE Guidelines


See a list of questions and answers about the CE Guidelines and requirements for insurance licensees.

More Information

New CE Guidelines Information Session

A video recording of the May 20, 2021, Information Session for licensees on the new CE Guidelines is available to view online.

More Information

CE Guidelines (Pre-June 1, 2021)

Continuing education guidelines prior to June 1, 2021, can be found in our previous practice advisory notices for CE. Search for "CE" to find the CE program by licence class dated April 2008.

Please note, there was a one-year extension of the deadline for licensees to complete their annual CE requirements from May 31, 2020 to May 31, 2021 due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus in April 2020. More information about the one-time CE requirement extension and frequently asked questions are available here.