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ITIL 4 and the New Requirement to Recertify

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ITIL® has long been one of the few professional certifications that did not require holders to re-certify or perform any sort of continuing education to maintain the credential. As of January 2023, that changed. Under PeopleCert's new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program, individuals who hold certain credentials are now required to recertify or record professional development points to keep their certifications in good standing.  

PeopleCert, the sole examination institute of ITIL, has designed this program to help candidates show their commitment to continuing professional development and be able to stay ahead in a competitive labor market. By recertifying, individuals can demonstrate their understanding and up-to-date knowledge of best practices to support professional development.
Beginning January 2023, all Global Best Practice certifications will need to be renewed after three years. Here are answers to some of the questions you may have:

Which certifications need to be renewed?

All PeopleCert Global Best Practice certifications will come with a renewal requirement. This includes ITIL 4 as well as PRINCE2, and many others in their portfolio.

Who will need to renew their certification?

All candidates with certifications from select Global Best Practice suites will need to renew within three years of the original certification dates. Click here for a list of the product suites that require renewal after 3 years.

If you obtained an ITIL 4 certification before June 30, 2020, you have until July 1, 2023* to renew your certification. PeopleCert has applied this ruling retrospectively, and so even though this may not have been a requirement at the time that you were certified, you will need to recertify. 


If you were certified after June 2020, you have 3 years from the original date of your certification to satisfy the recertification requirements.

How do I renew my certification?

There are three renewal paths available. Before the 3-year renewal period expires:
  1. Retake the same exam
  2. Take a higher-level course and exam from the same product suite  
  3. Collect and log CPD points
As lifelong learners, ITSM Academy recommends taking a higher-level course and exam rather than the same exam. In fact, we hope that you have already been able to apply what you learned during that earlier education and that you have been able to adapt and adopt what you learned in a way that has benefited both your career and your organization. 

We see more value in learning about new areas of the ITIL 4 framework and about adjacent ways of working, than in simply retaking an exam you have already passed. This means that, for example, ITIL 4 Foundation holders can keep their certification up-to-date by passing ITIL 4 HVIT, DSV, CDS, DPI, or MSF.  

The third renewal path lets candidates renew their certification by collecting and logging CPD points via a MyAxelos subscription. Click here to learn more about this program or download PeopleCert's CPD Guide for details.

Do my old qualifications expire?

If you decide not to renew your certifications that are within the scope of this program, you’ll still be included on the Successful Candidates Register (SCR) and the Candidate Verification Service, but a note will be added to your record to indicate that your certification needs to be renewed to align with current certification requirements. 

So, effectively, yes. Your old qualification will expire, but you will be able to demonstrate that you have previously achieved it.

How much will recertification exams be?

Under current scheme regulations, anyone buying an exam voucher must also purchase the core guidance eBook along with a course guide; they are automatically bundled together as part of the cost of the voucher. Click here to purchase a voucher for a recertification exam. 

If you opt to take a higher-level course and exam, the cost varies based on the nature of the certification. Please note that, as shown in the image below, most advanced ITIL courses have ITIL 4 Foundation as a prerequisite.  

Career benefits from ITIL

From the perspective of an individual certificate holder, ITIL remains one of the most sought-after and top-paying IT certifications. Though salary surveys vary slightly, ITIL has consistently ranked among the top 10 IT certifications.  Beyond salary, the real benefit the ITIL framework brings to individuals and teams is that it equips them with new and innovative ideas that they can immediately bring back to the workplace to better collaborate, enhance existing systems, and elevate processes to better serve their customers.

A common question we get asked is: If I already have ITIL v3 certification, does it make sense to upgrade to ITIL 4?

The answer is a resounding yes! First, earning the most updated certification for virtually any framework or body of knowledge demonstrates your personal commitment to professional development. Earning your certificate in ITIL v3 was a hard-earned feat. But let’s be honest. The gap between those able to benefit from the digital age and those who are not has been widening since ITIL v3 was first introduced in the 2000s. Things have sped up dramatically, and they are not going to slow down any time soon. So how do we deal with that?

We leverage the ‘tools of the trade’ that IT professionals and their business counterparts have been honing over the past 15 years. We use continuing education to understand how IT service management practices have evolved and the role they play in the wider context of customer experience, digital transformation, and systems thinking. 

Second, although ITIL v3 advice is still sound, ITIL 4 includes a significant amount of new material, including concepts such as the Service Value System, Service Value Chain, and Value Stream Mapping, to name a few. All of which encourage the ‘big picture’ thinking we all need to contribute to our organization’s mission, needs, and goals. It also reframes ITIL practices from strictly process-oriented activities to broader sets of resources (practices) used to accomplish work. Finally, it embraces the approaches organizations need to achieve higher levels of velocity such as Agile, DevOps, Lean, and Site Reliability Engineering.

Will education or certifications outside of the PeopleCert portfolio "count"
Yes, if they are relevant to your certification. The program has been built to acknowledge many different activities including education, professional experience, and community involvement. Refer to PeopleCert's CPD Guide for details.

Any further questions?

As an Accredited Training Organization (ATO), ITSM Academy is privy to the latest news as it happens, and we will continue to pass news along as we receive it. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions.  We’re here and happy to help.


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