Provide character evidence

Why we ask for evidence

We need to ensure that people applying to join our register are of sufficiently good character to practise safely and effectively.

We’ll ask you for some information about your character to assess your suitability for registration.

Our health and character guidance gives you detailed information about how we approach character issues.

You will need to

1. Complete a self-declaration

We’ll ask you to tell us about any:

• police charge, caution, conviction or conditional discharges you’ve received
• determinations made by any regulatory body in the UK (other than the NMC) or overseas

We don’t need to know about any:

• protected police charge, caution, conviction or conditional discharges that would not be shown on a police clearance or DBS check
• police charges where the police took no further action
• motoring offences (unless it resulted in disqualification)

What if I declare I have a police charge, caution, conviction or conditional discharge or regulatory determination?

As part of your application, we’ll give you an opportunity to tell us about the incident or findings to help us assess your application.

We won’t stop you from submitting your application if you don’t provide any more information, but it would help us to assess your application more quickly if you do. 

We’ll ask you to provide details about the offence or determination, as well as a reflective statement about the incident. We’re interested in your insight and understanding about the incident, the potential impact on your ability to practise safely and effectively, and how you have made sure it won’t happen again.

2. Upload police clearances and DBS certificates

You will need to provide a police clearance from each overseas country you have lived in for 12 months or more (in total, not necessarily consecutive) in the last ten years.

Also, if you’ve lived in the UK for 3 months or more, you’ll need to provide a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check.

These documents must have been issued after you left each country, otherwise we may ask you to get a more recent version when we assess your application. 

Your police clearance from the country you’re residing in at the time of your application should be issued no more than 12 months before the date we're assessing your application.

Check how to apply for these

These documents may take some time depending on the local authorities responsible for issuing them, so you should make sure you understand how to obtain them and how long they may take to arrive.

GOV.UK has published a helpful guide on how to obtain overseas police clearances, which may assist you with your application.

3. Nominate someone to make a supporting declaration

We ask everyone to provide a supporting character declaration.

You must confirm you have consent to share their details with us.

Your nominated person will need to:

• make a declaration that you’re capable of safe and effective practice
• confirm they’re not related to you or have been previously employed by you
• explain why they think you may not be capable of safe and effective practice if they indicate they have a concern about your character or are aware cautions, convictions or determinations you have been subject to

Who can provide my supporting declaration?

If you're registered at the time you’re submitting your application or have been in the last three years, we’ll ask you to provide details of your regulator so that they can provide your supporting declaration.

If you haven’t been registered in the three years before submitting your application, but have previously held registration, we’ll ask you to provide details of your last regulator so that they can provide a supporting character declaration, but we’ll also need a more recent supporting declaration as well.

In this instance, and for those who have never held registration before, depending on your circumstance you’ll need to provide a supporting character declaration from one of the following:

• your most recent employer, if you’ve worked in a healthcare setting within the three years before submitting your application
• your education institution that provided your training if you graduated, but haven’t practised, in the year before submitting your application
• an NMC registrant who has known you for at least a year and who you’ve been in contact with in the last six months before submitting your application
• another UK-regulated healthcare professional who has known you for at least a year and who you’ve been in contact with in the last six months before submitting your application

If your circumstances mean that you’re unable to provide one of the above, we’ll ask you to provide details for two people from our list of approved signatories.

Contact them before you begin

Make sure you contact your nominated person before submitting your application to let them know you’re applying for registration with us, get consent to share their contact details with us and make sure you’re providing the correct details.

They may ask you to fulfil some requirements before responding to our request. Some regulators may also charge a fee, so it's important you contact them before submitting your application so you can be sure you have fulfilled the necessary requirements.

Your application may be delayed if you don’t contact them before submitting, as we’ll only be able to assess your registration application once we’ve received this information.

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