Registration FAQs

Frequently asked questions

• What title should I use, and what's a protected title?

  This can be a tricky issue, for registrants as much as non-registrants. Our definitions of the various title terms, plus some useful background, is below.

  Protected titles

  Professionals on the HCPC Register are entitled to use a corresponding designated title; for example ‘chiropodist’ or ‘podiatrist’. A list of the professions we regulate together with their designated titles can be found on our protected titles page. These titles are protected by law. Anyone using one of these titles must be on our Register. A person who is not registered and who misuses a designated title is breaking the law and may be prosecuted.

  
  State registration

  State registration of health and care professionals no longer exists and you should avoid using the expression ‘state registered’. ‘State registered’, sometimes abbreviated to ‘SR’, was the term used to describe professionals registered with our predecessor body, the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine. The term is now redundant and should no longer be used.

   

  Chartered

  Some professional bodies, including the British Psychological Society and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, can confer the title ‘Chartered’. By law, you do not need to be chartered in order to practise but you must be on our Register. If you are chartered, you must still be registered with us to use one of the protected titles.

• What details do you hold about me?

  In order to ensure that you meet our standards, we collect information from you when you apply for registration and when you renew your registration.

  When you apply for registration, you give personal details including your address, qualifications, date of birth, email address, home address, work address, etc. We retain this information so that we can contact you if necessary, and advise you in the case of any changes to your registration.

  We keep this information securely, and do not reveal it to any third parties. All members of HCPC staff must sign a data protection statement before they are allowed to process your details.

  We will never share your personal information with a third party for their marketing purposes. We receive requests for statistics about the number of health and care professionals by, for example, age, area, or gender. We do release these statistics, but we make sure that no health and care professional can be identified.

  The information that we publish on the online Register is your name, registration number, profession, dates of current registration cycle, approximate geographical area of practice, and any conditions on your registration.

• How do I update my qualifications?

  Registrants who have gained post-registration qualifications need not update these with us. We receive this information automatically from our approved education providers and update registrants' records without them having to get in touch. 

• How do I request a copy of my details?

  You can request a copy of your application or registration details at any time by placing a 'subject access request'. Information on how to do so is on request a copy of your details.

• Why do you charge fees?

  The need to charge fees is due to our setup: by law we can only seek funding from our registrants. More information, including how to the funds from fees are used, is on why we charge fees.