PSA publishes its review of the Health and Care Professions Council performance for 2025/26

We have today published our annual performance review of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). During 2025/26, we conducted a periodic review of the HCPC’s performance against the Standards of Good Regulation (the Standards), including an audit of its fitness to practise (FTP) function.

For this period, the HCPC has met 16 out of the 18 Standards. Our report explains how we made our decision. 

The performance review is our check on how well the regulators have been protecting the public and promoting confidence in the health and care professions.

In 2024, we introduced a new approach to assessing regulators against our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Standard. In order to meet the Standard, regulators must assure us they are delivering the four high-level outcomes supported by our evidence matrix. The HCPC met the Standard. It continues to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to EDI, building on its positive performance from last year. This year, the HCPC published EDI quality indicators to help education providers fully understand requirements set out in the HCPC’s standards of education and training, and to more explicitly link them to EDI. We considered that the publication of the EDI quality indicators provided strong evidence of progressive improvement and considered they were a positive development. 

The HCPC met three out of five fitness to practise Standards this year. 

The HCPC did not meet Standard 15 again this year, because it is still taking too long to process FTP cases. Whilst our audit found that most cases were adequately investigated, in approximately 40% of cases we identified avoidable and/or unexplained significant delays. Stakeholders also continue to tell us about delays in the HCPC’s FTP process and the impact these can have on the wellbeing of registrants. In accordance with our escalation policy, we have provided an update letter regarding our concerns to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Health and Social Care Committee Chair.

The HCPC did not meet Standard 18 this year. While the HCPC has taken steps to improve the support it provides to parties involved in the FTP process, these improvements have not yet resulted in consistently reliable performance across its caseload. We identified customer service issues in the cases we audited. Poor communication, such as failing to provide updates on case progression, can compound the stress and harm caused by the process. Stakeholders also described the HCPC’s communication as inconsistent, insufficiently responsive, and not adapted to the needs of individuals experiencing distress. The HCPC has committed to various actions to improve performance against this Standard and we will monitor the impact of these changes in future performance reviews.

In line with our escalation policy, we have provided a written update about the HCPC’s performance to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Chairs of the Health and Social Care Committees in the four UK parliaments. 

You can find out more about the HCPC’s review in the full report. Find out more about how we review the regulators.

The judgments we make against each Standard incorporate a range of evidence to form an overall picture of performance. Meeting a Standard means a regulator has demonstrated satisfactory performance in that area. It does not mean there is no room for improvement.

Our oversight does not stop when we publish our report. It is an ongoing, continuous process and, where we have identified areas for improvement, we pay particular attention to these as we continue to monitor the regulator’s performance.

ENDS

Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care

Contact: media@professionalstandards.org.uk