CPI vs CPPI: insolvency qualifications and jurisdictions

The Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) offers two intermediate insolvency certificates. The Certificate of Proficiency in Insolvency (CPI) covers corporate and personal insolvency. The Certificate of Proficiency in Personal Insolvency (CPPI) concentrates on personal insolvency. Each comes in an England and Wales version and a Scottish version, so there are four papers, and you need to choose both the qualification and the jurisdiction before you study anything.

The four papers

• CPI England and Wales: bankruptcy, IVAs and other personal options, plus administration, liquidation, receivership, company and partnership voluntary arrangements.

• CPI Scotland: sequestration and protected trust deeds, plus Scottish corporate procedures including administration, receivership, voluntary and court liquidation, and CVAs.

• CPPI England and Wales: the full range of personal options, from debt management plans, the debt respite scheme and debt relief orders to IVAs and bankruptcy, in more depth.

• CPPI Scotland: sequestration, protected trust deeds, debt payment programmes under the Debt Arrangement Scheme and other Scottish solutions, in more depth.

What all four share

The IPA syllabuses describe the same paper for every variant: one three-hour exam worth 100 marks, made up of ten one-mark multiple-choice questions, ten short-form questions, two compulsory 15-mark computational or essay-style questions and two more chosen from three. Regulation, ethics, Statements of Insolvency Practice (SIPs) and other guidance account for about 20% of the marks. The law examined is the law in force on 1 January of the year you sit.

The exams are online and closed book, sat on your own computer under remote invigilation. The syllabuses also say CPI and CPPI are set at the same standard and share some questions.

CPI or CPPI

Choose CPI if your work, or the work you want, involves companies and partnerships as well as individuals. Choose CPPI if you work with individuals in debt and want to go deeper on their options and the advice around them. The Scottish CPPI syllabus also says CPPI gives more weight to non-statutory solutions such as debt management plans.

CPPI is not the easier option. It covers less ground but examines that ground in more depth, and its written questions still need advice, procedure and calculation.

England and Wales or Scotland

Choose the jurisdiction whose cases you work on or want to work on. The two are not variations on the same exam: Scottish personal insolvency has its own statute, institutions and vocabulary. Comparing the syllabuses shows the difference:

• Bankruptcy and IVAs in England and Wales; sequestration and protected trust deeds in Scotland.

• The Official Receiver's role in bankruptcy; the Accountant in Bankruptcy's role in sequestration.

• Creditors vote by proxy in England and Wales and by mandate in Scotland.

• Antecedent transactions in England and Wales; challengeable transactions in Scotland.

• Debt relief orders and the debt respite scheme appear only in the England and Wales papers; debt payment programmes and Mortgage to Rent appear only in the Scottish ones.

An answer that uses the wrong framework loses marks even if the reasoning is sound, so keep notes for one jurisdiction only.

Sittings and entry

To sit any of the papers you must be an IPA Student member. The IPA recommends two to three years of practical insolvency experience and training with a course provider, but neither is a formal entry condition. Its exam pages currently list June sittings for all four papers and an extra November sitting for CPI England and Wales only; its CPPI page says CPPI applications reopen in early 2027. Check the CPI or CPPI page before planning.

Passing is not licensing

Neither certificate lets you take insolvency appointments. An appointment-taking licence requires the Joint Insolvency Exam (JIE) and other conditions. The syllabuses describe CPI and CPPI as a foundation for further qualifications such as the JIE.

Preparing

Ninety of the 100 marks are written, so preparation has to include producing answers, not only recognising them. How to study for CPI and CPPI covers source control and planning, and CPI and CPPI written answers covers technique.

Qualifico combines objective revision with Written Response practice for all four papers. Written Response is available on the Qualifico web app, where you type answers and get indicative feedback against the question's mark scheme. It is not an IPA examiner's mark.