Yes. If you earn more than 12 CPD points in a year, up to 11 of the surplus carries forward for 12 months and counts toward the following year’s requirement. Anything above 11 is forfeited. That is the entire rule, but the arithmetic trips people up, and the strategy it rewards is not the one most builders assume.
The short version
Points above 12 carry forward, to a maximum of 11, for one year only. Earn 20, carry 8. Earn 23, carry 11. Earn 30, carry 11 and lose 7. Carried points cannot themselves be carried again.
How the count works
At the end of your CPD year, which runs to your licence renewal date, take the total points earned in that year and subtract 12. If the result is positive, that surplus carries forward, capped at 11. Next year starts with that balance already banked, so you need 12 minus the carry-forward.
The cap is on the surplus, not the total. Twenty-three points is the sweet spot: 12 for this year, 11 into next. Beyond 23, every additional point is wasted from a compliance point of view (though not, of course, from a learning one).
Three worked examples
| Earned this year | Used this year | Carried forward | Forfeited | Needed next year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 |
| 23 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 1 |
What carry-forward does not do
- It does not accumulate. Points carried into next year that are not needed do not carry into the year after. A 30-point year covers this year and most of next; it does not touch the year after that.
- It does not let you skip a year. The most you can arrive with is 11, so every year needs at least one new point of activity.
- It does not apply across licence types. The requirement is per person, so points are yours regardless of which credential you hold; but there is no pooling between people or across a company.
Three-year and five-year licences
Every year of a multi-year licence is its own CPD year, ending on the anniversary of the renewal date, and carry-forward works between those years exactly as it does between annual renewals. What a long licence does not do is let you earn 36 points whenever you like across three years. Twelve per year, with up to 11 rolling forward each time.
The strategy the rule actually rewards
Builders sometimes plan to do three years of CPD in one hit and coast. The cap makes that impossible: a 36-point year yields 12 used, 11 carried and 13 forfeited, and the year after the carry-forward you are back to zero. The rule is designed for the opposite pattern, a steady year with a small buffer. Aim a little over 12 each year, so an unexpectedly busy year is already covered, and never go past 23 for compliance reasons alone.
Diary entry for carry-forward: at the end of each CPD year, write one line: “Year to [renewal date]: [total] points earned, 12 used, [n] carried forward.” Keep the certificates that made up the surplus with that year’s records. At audit that single line explains next year’s starting balance.
Where PointCPD tracks it for you
Add your renewal date to your PointCPD dashboard and it counts each course into the right CPD year, calculates the carry-forward against the 11-point cap and shows what you still need. Courses bank at least 2 points each, and the certificate carries the topic, duration and points for the diary. The complete NSW CPD guide covers the rest of the rules.
Questions builders ask
Do carried-forward points expire?
Yes. Surplus points carry forward for 12 months, into the next CPD year only. They do not roll on again if unused.
Can I carry points forward on a three-year licence?
Yes, year to year within the term. Each year of a three-year licence is its own 12-point year ending on the anniversary of the renewal date, and up to 11 surplus points from one year carry into the next.
Is there a form to claim carry-forward?
No. CPD is self-recorded. Note the carry-forward in your diary with the calculation behind it, keep the certificates that produced the surplus, and the record speaks for itself at audit.
Sources: NSW Government, Continuing professional development for builders and swimming pool builders.