How we work

Structure and Leadership 

• Our Board sets our strategy and ensures effective operation through our 2023-26 strategic plan 
• The Chief Executive leads our work supported by an executive leadership team
• We are independent from Government and our staff are not civil servants nor NHS employees 
• We operate through three directorates: Regulation and Accreditation, Policy and Communications and Corporate Services
• Our staff have skills and expertise in roles encompassing legal, governance, conducting reviews and audits, policy, research, communications, IT, operations and finance. 

Funding and Budget 

Our annual budget is around £5.5 million. The PSA is funded through: 

• Fees collected from the regulatory bodies that we oversee. This funds the costs of our regulatory and standards functions
• Income arising from the accreditation of registers not regulated by law 
• Income for advice and investigations that are specifically commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and/or the Devolved Administrations
• Income from other activities, for example, fees from the provision of advisory services to regulatory bodies and other similar organisations in the UK and abroad. 

Oversight and accountability 

• Parliament oversees our work 
• The Privy Council consults on our budget and sets regulatory fees 
• The Health Committee can summon us to give an account of our work. 

Legal Authority 

We were set up under the NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Act (2002). Our legislation has been amended since then. The Health and Social Care Act (2012) gave us two additional responsibilities relating to our work with Accredited Registers; and our work advising the Privy Council about appointments to the regulators’ Councils. 

We have the authority to: 

• Review decisions made by the 10 regulators about whether practitioners remain fit to practise. We have a power to appeal decisions to the High Court (Court of Session in Scotland) if we do not think that they protect the public adequately. 
• Accredit registers that do not have to be regulated by law, if they meet our standards. We can also suspend accreditation, apply conditions and remove accreditation, as appropriate.

We do not have the power to investigate complaints about the regulators as this part of the legislation has not been put into practice, but we do value hearing from people who are willing to share their experiences with us to help inform our work. 

Our organisational values

Our values of integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and teamwork.