Frequently asked questions

Our full name is the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA). We are an independent UK organisation and we report to Parliament.

We oversee the work of 10 regulators who regulate health professionals in the UK and social workers in England. We also set standards for organisations that hold registers for unregulated health and care practitioners.

We provide advice about the regulation of health and care professionals to Ministers and others. We also publish standards and encourage research so that regulation is based on evidence of what works.

To check that regulators and accredited registers are protecting the public well and encouraging improvement in the way regulation and registration is carried out.

The 10 regulators are each required by law to pay us an annual fee.  We charge a not-for-profit fee to accredited registers. Governments and others can also commission us to give them advice.

You can find a copy of our accounts in our Annual Report. Our annual budget is usually less than £4 million. We have between 35-40 staff.