Continuing Education Requirements

Continuing education (CE) is learning that helps fulfill the knowledge required to maintain a standard of professional competence and ensures practices remain current with an ever-changing industry.

This knowledge can be obtained through a variety of learning opportunities and should be sufficient to maintain and increase the licensees' knowledge in the insurance products they sell or adjudicate, while meeting the minimum number of credits and the technical course content requirements as outlined in the CE Guidelines for each licence class.

In accordance with Council Rule 7(5), licensees, must meet the requirements of the CE program established by the Insurance Council, as amended from time to time. The Insurance Council introduced new Continuing Education Guidelines effective June 1, 2021, which replaced the CE program previously amended in 2008.

Separate guidelines are provided for each licence class, and the guidelines describe the CE requirements that licensees must meet for each licence period between June 1 – May 31.
 

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

Annual CE Credit Require​ments

Licensees must annually complete the following amount of CE credits for the licence period 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.

Reminder – What’s Changed from Previous Requirements:

  • ​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.
  • CE credits cannot be claimed for developing, leading, teaching, or presenting a course or seminar.
  • 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.

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.

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 as noted in the above paragraph, non-resident applicants and licensees without CE requirements in their home province are subject to the same rules and requirements as licensees who reside in BC.

Q&A on the Continuing Education Guidelines

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

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