About regulators
What do regulators do?
The 10 health and care regulators we oversee ‘register’ health and care professionals working in occupations that Parliament has said must be regulated. For example, doctor, nurse, pharmacist and paramedic are all regulated occupations.
A register is more than a list. It shows that the professionals on it are properly trained and qualified and meet the regulator's standards. It is a criminal offence for anyone not on these registers to work in these regulated occupations. You can download a list of regulated occupations on the right.
Regulators do four things:
- Set standards of competence and conduct that health and care professionals must meet in order to be registered and practise
- Check the quality of education and training courses to make sure they give students the skills and knowledge to practise safely and competently
- Maintain a register that everyone can search
- Investigate complaints about people on their register and decide if they should be allowed to continue to practise or should be struck off the register - either because of problems with their conduct or their competence.
You can find out more about their work and search for a health and care professional on their registers by visiting our Find a Regulator page.
Still not sure? Find out more in our
blog explaining more about professional regulation in the UK.