Information for registrants affected by the OET issue

OET is one of two English language tests which we accept as evidence that you know enough English to practise safely and effectively as a nursing or midwifery professional in the UK. The other acceptable test is the academic version of the International English Language Test System (IELTS).

OET informed us in March about alleged test malpractice at Chandigarh, one of its test sites in India

OET investigated the alleged malpractice and decided to withdraw the test results of those candidates it believes were implicated

OET’s investigation has concluded, and they believe malpractice has taken place.

Because of this, we need to undertake our own investigation to understand whether there has been any fraudulent activity.

We’ve now received and reviewed evidence from OET and we’ve been conducting our own investigation to understand what happened. The aim of our investigation is to gather all available evidence and assess its credibility.

We will share with you a summary of the evidence and ask you to provide your account and any other evidence you think supports it. This will help us to further consider your case.

Any evidence you share with us will be reviewed together with OET’s evidence. This will help us decide if we need to refer your case to the Investigating Committee (an independent panel). If we decide to make a referral, there would be a hearing at which the Investigating Committee would consider the evidence and decide whether your entry to the register was fraudulently procured or incorrectly made.

By mid-January, we will let you know if we think there’s enough evidence to make a referral to the Investigating Committee.

If we decide that the evidence isn’t sufficient to prove your test was taken fraudulently, and you have already provided new English language evidence that meets our requirements, we won’t refer your case to the Investigating Committee and your case will be closed.

If you have not already done so, we would encourage you to either resit your OET or provide alternative English language evidence. This is necessary because OET withdrew the result of the test you took at IN029 test centre in Chandigarh and without it a concern remains that your entry on the register is incorrect or fraudulently procured, if you do not provide alternative English language evidence we will still have to refer you to the Investigating Committee.

If we need to refer your case to the Investigating Committee, we could begin scheduling hearings from April 2025, subject to all parties’ availability. We will tell you more about this, and what to expect, if this happens.

To be clear, we haven’t made a decision yet about whether you should be referred to the Investigating Committee or not.

In the meantime, your employer may be conducting their own risk assessments in line with their own processes.

The NMC has been notified by OET that it has withdrawn your test result from Chandigarh because it believes you were implicated in the alleged test malpractice at that test centre. This means that we can no longer accept your test result from Chandigarh as evidence of your English language competence.

This means that you will need to provide alternative, verifiable evidence of your English language competence. Find out what we accept here.

Because of this, we’re now carrying out an investigation to decide whether the concerns raised may amount to an allegation that your entry onto the register was fraudulently procured or incorrectly made.

In line with our fraudulent and incorrect entry process, we contacted your employer when the issue was first raised to tell them about the concerns.

We recommend you keep them up to date.

We will share with you a summary of the evidence and ask you to provide your account and any other evidence you think supports it. This will help us to further consider your case.

Any evidence you share with us will be reviewed together with OET’s evidence. This will help us decide if we need to refer your case to the Investigating Committee (an independent panel). If we decide to make a referral, there would be a hearing at which the Investigating Committee would consider the evidence and decide whether your entry to the register was fraudulently procured or incorrectly made.

By mid-January, we will let you know if we think there’s enough evidence to make a referral.

If we decide that the evidence isn’t sufficient to prove your test was taken fraudulently, and you have already provided new English language evidence that meets our requirements, we won’t refer your case to the Investigating Committee and your case will be closed.

If you have not already done so, we would encourage you to either resit your OET or provide alternative English language evidence. This is necessary because OET withdrew the result of the test you took at IN029 test centre in Chandigarh.

If we need to refer your case to the Investigating Committee, we could begin scheduling hearings from April 2025, subject to all parties’ availability. We will tell you more about this, and what to expect, if this happens.

To be clear, we haven’t made a decision yet about whether you should be referred to the Investigating Committee or not.

If you choose not to take a retest or provide other evidence of English language competence that meets our requirements, we'll ask the Investigating Committee to direct the Registrar to remove your entry from our register. If you do choose to do this, we ask that you let us know so that it can make the process much quicker for all parties involved.

If, after being removed, you decide to apply for readmission to the register, you would need to provide alternative, verifiable evidence that meets our registration language requirements.

You would also need to demonstrate that you’re of good character. The concern about your OET test result from Chandigarh means that your application would need to be considered by an Assistant Registrar who would decide whether to accept or refuse your application for readmission.

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We know this will continue to be a worrying time, with uncertainty over your registration.

If you have a UK based employer do speak to them to see what support is available. If you’re a member of a trade union or one of the associations, please do contact them for advice and support.

We’ve listed a few of the trade unions, and the British Indian Nurses Association, with contact details below:
• Royal College of Midwives (RCM): 0300 303 0444
• Royal College of Nursing (RCN): 0345 772 6100
• UNISON: 0800 0 857 857
• Unite the union: Contact Us - Unite The Union
• British Indian Nurses Association: Contact – Binauk.org
• Union of UK Malayalee Associations
• The Alliance of Senior Kerala Nurses

Please do seek support if you would find that helpful and if you have any questions or want to provide any information at this stage, please get in touch with us at FTP-IEFETEAM@nmc-uk.org

NMC Independent Careline

The careline is an independent service offering confidential and non-judgemental emotional support during the investigation process. It’s available 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Whether you think you’d benefit from confidential emotional support, or would prefer practical help and advice, the support team would be happy to talk to you.

You can contact the careline on 0800 587 7396.

This service is also accessible through your NMC online portal using your login details. There’s lots of useful resource and a live chat facility, all available during office hours.

More information about this service can be found here: Independent registrant Careline - here to help - The Nursing and Midwifery Council (nmc.org.uk)

Interim orders protect the public from risk by restricting or suspending a nurse, midwife or nursing associate’s practice while we investigate concerns about them.

From an NMC perspective, whilst this investigation is ongoing and based on the evidence at this stage, you can continue to practise as normal with no restrictions on your practice.

However, as we’re investigating concerns regarding the authenticity of your OET result, we may consider applying for an interim order if we feel that there is a risk of harm to the public and/or to public confidence in the integrity of the register.

In addition, as your current English language evidence has been withdrawn by OET, you will need to provide alternative, verifiable evidence that meets our registration language requirements. .

If your employer chooses to, they may conduct their own risk assessment and restrict your practice.

To request an OET re-sit at no cost, you should email applications@oet.com.au. You must contact this email by 1 December 2024 to get a free re-sit of the OET.

OET recommend that the individuals affected by this issue take the OET on Computer for the fastest turnaround on test results.

The retest fee is being covered by OET.

OET will not cover any other expenses incurred when resitting your test, including travel, accommodation, or sustenance.

No, we will not refund an individual for the OET already taken.

We accept the OET on Paper, OET on Computer, and OET@Home test. All applicants should choose the Nursing examination from the list of OET Professions versions.

There are a range of resources on the NMC’s website about our English language requirements.

English language requirements - The Nursing and Midwifery Council (nmc.org.uk)

Our guidance on registration language requirements sets out the three types of evidence that will satisfy us that you have the necessary knowledge of English to practise in the UK: language-requirements-guidance.pdf

If you don’t want to take another English language test (evidence type 1), you’ll need to provide us with either evidence type 2 or evidence type 3. Please look at the guidance for the details of the evidence you need to provide.

To continue your application with the NMC, you must provide one of these evidence types to satisfy us of your English language competence.

A registrant providing evidence of English language competence does not mean they will stay on the register. 

Because there is suspected malpractice, the matter would still require investigation and possibly referral to the Investigating Committee if we think there is sufficient evidence to do so.

We have opened Fraudulent/Incorrect Entry cases for a number of professionals on our register. This means that we’ll now investigate the concerns raised about the individuals and then decide whether to refer their cases to the Investigating Committee.

We have received OET’s evidence for each individual suspected of alleged test fraud and are contacting individuals about this.

We are encouraging registrants to provide alternative, verifiable evidence that meets our registration language requirements. One way of doing this is to take another OET and .OET have offered to pay for a resit.

The Investigating Committee will make a decision about whether an entry to the register has been fraudulently procured or incorrectly made.

The Investigating Committee may decide to take no action if there’s insufficient evidence to prove that your entry was fraudulently procured and, by the time of the panel’s decision, you’ve been able to provide alternative, verifiable evidence that meets the NMC’s registration language requirements.

If the Investigating Committee decides that there’s sufficient evidence to prove that your entry was fraudulently procured. it's likely that it would direct removal of your entry from the register.

You would have a right of appeal against such a decision.

Incorrect and fraudulent entry cases look at how someone got onto the register, rather than a concern about a professional’s fitness to practise (FtP).

Incorrect and fraudulent entry cases are considered by an independent panel called the Investigating Committee.

Yes, we are following our regulatory processes as set out in out in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (Education, Registration and Registration Appeals) Rules 2004 and The Nursing and Midwifery Council (Fitness to Practise) Rules 2004.

We have provided guidance on the Fraudulent and Incorrect Entry process and guidance for internationally educated professionals joining the register which can be found on our website.

The NMC is governed by legislation which sets out how our processes work and what approach we take to different scenarios, including the approach we take to Fraudulent/Incorrect Entry cases.

The legislation that governs the Fraudulent/Incorrect Entry process is the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 and the Nursing and Midwifery Council Fitness to Practise Rules 2004.

For any PIN or PRN request please call the contact centre on 0207 333 9333.

If the PIN is known the contact centre will be able to conduct full DPA check and provide the PRN over the phone.

If neither the PIN nor PRN is known, we would ask you to email UKenquiries@nmc-uk.org with a copy of your Driving Licence or Passport.  Please title these requests as OET Pin Request and we can ensure a priority turn around.