The NMC is one of the largest professional healthcare regulators in Europe, responsible for setting standards of education, training, and professional conduct for the entire nursing workforce in the United Kingdom across all four nations.
The nursing and midwifery council (NMC) is the professional regulatory body for nurses, midwives, and nursing associates in the United Kingdom. Its principal office is located at 23 Portland Place, London W1B 1PZ. This address is used for official correspondence, formal written submissions, and fitness to practise documentation. For routine registration enquiries, the NMC strongly encourages using its online portal rather than written correspondence, as processing times for postal queries are significantly longer.
The NMC's main switchboard can be reached on 020 7637 7181 during office hours of Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM GMT. There is no out-of-hours telephone service for general enquiries. The switchboard connects callers to the appropriate department — registration, fitness to practise, employer inquiries, or the professional standards team. Callers should have their PIN (Personal Identification Number from the nursing register) ready when calling about registration status, as this speeds up verification considerably.
Email contact with the NMC depends on the nature of the enquiry. There is not a single general contact email address; instead, the NMC routes different query types through separate email channels available through their website contact forms. Registration queries go through the registration team. Concerns about a nurse or midwife's fitness to practise have a dedicated referral process. Employers verifying registration status are directed to use the public-facing online register, which can be searched free of charge at any time without contacting the NMC directly.
For international nurses and midwives seeking to register in the UK, the NMC's overseas registration team handles correspondence related to overseas applicants. The same 23 Portland Place address applies for posted documents, including certified copies of qualifications and identity documents required for registration. The NMC's computer-based test (CBT) for overseas applicants is administered through Pearson VUE test centres globally rather than at the NMC's own premises, so applicants do not need to travel to London to sit the CBT exam component of registration.
The NMC also maintains offices and hearing venues in Belfast, Cardiff, and Edinburgh to serve nurses and midwives in Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland respectively. Fitness to practise hearings — the formal proceedings that determine whether a registrant's fitness to practise is impaired — may be held at any of these venues depending on where the registrant is based. Notices of hearing and associated documentation are sent to registrants at the address held on the register, which is why keeping contact details updated through NMC Online is essential.
For registrants who have changed their name due to marriage, deed poll, or other legal change, name updates must be submitted to the NMC with evidence of the change — typically a copy of the marriage certificate, deed poll document, or court order. Name changes cannot be made through NMC Online without accompanying documentation and must go through the registration team. The NMC register displays the name exactly as it appears on the documentation provided, which matters for employment verification purposes and professional identification.
The NMC also publishes its annual fitness to practise report and other accountability documents on its website. These reports detail the number of referrals received, case outcomes, and trends in the types of concerns raised about registrants. The data is publicly accessible and provides transparency about how the NMC exercises its regulatory functions. For registrants, employers, and the public, these reports give important context about the scale and nature of NMC regulatory work beyond the contact information at the front door.
23 Portland Place, London W1B 1PZ. Use for formal correspondence, fitness to practise documents, and certified copies of qualifications.
020 7637 7181. Monday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM GMT. Have your NMC PIN ready for registration queries.
Preferred channel for registration renewals, address updates, revalidation, and most routine queries. Available 24/7 at nmc.org.uk.
Separate referral process for concerns about a nurse or midwife. Use the online referral form or telephone the FtP team directly.
Use the public NMC register at nmc.org.uk — no need to contact NMC directly. Search by name or PIN to verify current registration status.
The NMC handles a specific range of enquiries related to professional registration and regulation. Understanding what falls within the NMC's remit — and what does not — prevents wasted contact attempts and ensures registrants and employers reach the right organization for their needs. The primary reasons to contact the NMC include registration applications (initial and renewal), revalidation queries, changes to personal details on the register, concerns about a registrant's fitness to practise, and requests for certified confirmation of registration status.
Overseas nurses and midwives seeking to work in the UK contact the NMC to begin the international registration process. This process involves an assessment of qualifications, English language proficiency verification (OET or IELTS), the nmc cbt numeracy test and clinical examination components (OSCE), and a period of supervised practice in some cases. The NMC does not employ the nurses and midwives whose registration it processes — employment is a separate matter negotiated directly with NHS trusts, private healthcare providers, or nursing agencies. The NMC will not help with job placement or visa arrangements.
Employers and managers in healthcare settings contact the NMC primarily to verify that staff members are registered and in good standing. The public online register is the appropriate tool for this and can be searched at any time. The register shows whether a nurse or midwife's registration is current, whether there are any conditions of practice, and whether registration has lapsed, been suspended, or been struck off. Employers should not rely on a registrant's own statement about their registration status — independent verification through the register is best practice for safe hiring.
Members of the public and patients who wish to raise a concern about a nurse or midwife contact the NMC through the fitness to practise referral process. This is a formal legal process governed by specific rules, and the NMC investigates concerns that fall within its jurisdiction — concerns about a registrant's clinical competence, conduct, or health that may affect their ability to practise safely. The nursing and midwifery council register lists the names of nurses and midwives who have faced fitness to practise proceedings and had conditions, cautions, suspensions, or striking-off orders applied to their registration.
The NMC does not handle complaints about the standards of care provided by NHS trusts or independent healthcare providers — those concerns fall under the remit of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW), Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), or the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) in Northern Ireland. Patients who are dissatisfied with their care should start with the healthcare provider's complaints process. The NMC is specifically concerned with the individual registrant's fitness to practise, not the organization's overall standards.
Some registrants confuse the NMC with their professional unions or membership organizations such as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) or Unison. The NMC is a regulatory body — it protects the public by maintaining standards — while professional unions advocate for nurses and midwives. If a registrant faces a fitness to practise investigation, the NMC is the regulator conducting the process. Professional unions and membership organizations offer legal support, representation, and advice to registrants involved in NMC proceedings, but they operate entirely separately from the NMC itself.
The NMC's preferred method for handling most registrant enquiries is through NMC Online, the self-service portal available at nmc.org.uk. This platform allows registered nurses, midwives, and nursing associates to renew registration, submit revalidation evidence, update personal contact details including address, view their registration certificate, and pay registration fees without needing to speak to NMC staff. The portal is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and processes most transactions more quickly than telephone or postal contact.
For registrants updating their address with the NMC, NMC Online is the only channel that updates the register immediately. Postal address changes submitted by letter take considerably longer and create a period of risk during which the NMC cannot contact the registrant if important notices need to be sent — including fitness to practise correspondence, which is time-sensitive by law. Registrants are required to keep their contact details current with the NMC as a professional obligation. The nmc osce test results and associated correspondence during the overseas registration process are also routed through the portal where possible.
New applicants to the NMC register — including UK nursing graduates completing initial registration and overseas applicants completing the international registration process — create their NMC Online account as the first step in the application process. The account serves as the applicant's primary interface with the NMC throughout the registration journey, from document submission through status tracking to fee payment and certificate download. Overseas applicants should ensure they use an email address they will have long-term access to, as the NMC sends all correspondence to the registered email address.
The NMC Online portal also hosts the revalidation confirmation process. Every three years, registrants must confirm through the portal that they have completed the required practice hours, professional development activities, reflective discussions, and obtained a confirmer's signature. Revalidation is not a test or examination — it is a declaration supported by evidence that the registrant has maintained their competence and stayed engaged with professional standards. Failure to complete revalidation by the renewal date results in registration lapsing, which means the nurse or midwife can no longer legally practice in the UK until registration is restored.
For nurses and midwives who have difficulty accessing NMC Online — due to technical problems, disability-related access needs, or other circumstances — the NMC telephone team can process some transactions by phone and can also arrange reasonable adjustments to the revalidation process. The NMC's approach to accessibility is outlined on their website, and registrants with specific needs should contact the office proactively rather than waiting until a deadline is imminent. The nursing midwifery council uk regulatory framework places obligations on the NMC as well as registrants, including obligations around accessible communication with all registrants on the register.
The NMC Online portal also allows registrants to view their revalidation history, download previous registration certificates for employment or visa purposes, and access personalized guidance about upcoming renewal deadlines. Registrants who have been removed from the register and wish to apply for restoration contact the NMC through a specific restoration pathway rather than through the standard registration process. Restoration applications involve demonstrating that the reason for removal no longer applies and that the applicant is fit to return to practice.
Use NMC Online for: initial registration applications, registration renewals, revalidation confirmation, fee payments, certificate downloads, and address/contact detail updates. For registration queries that cannot be resolved online, call 020 7637 7181 (Mon–Fri, 9–5 GMT) or use the website contact form. Have your NMC PIN ready for faster service.
To raise a concern about a nurse or midwife, use the NMC's online referral form at nmc.org.uk. Urgent safety concerns involving immediate risk to patients should be directed to the relevant local employer or care regulator (CQC, HIW, RQIA) as well as the NMC. The NMC's FtP team can be contacted by phone at the main switchboard for guidance on the referral process.
Search the public NMC register at nmc.org.uk at any time — no account needed. Enter name or PIN to verify current registration status, check for conditions of practice, and confirm registration type. For bulk verification needs, the NMC offers a data sharing agreement option for large employers conducting multiple checks regularly.
International nurses and midwives applying to register with the NMC send certified copies of their qualifications, transcripts, and identity documents to 23 Portland Place, London W1B 1PZ. Original documents should never be sent — the NMC requests certified copies only, and originals sent by mistake are not always safely returned. Certifications must come from an appropriate source such as the issuing institution, a notary public, or the local equivalent of a solicitor depending on the applicant's home country. The NMC website specifies acceptable certifiers for different document types.
Processing times for overseas registration documents vary depending on the country of training and completeness of the submitted file. The NMC uses a risk-based assessment approach that requires more verification for qualifications from certain countries or training systems where the NMC has less established familiarity. Applicants can track the status of their application through their NMC Online account. Adding documents to an open application must be done carefully, as submitting an incorrect or outdated document may delay rather than advance the assessment.
Language requirements for overseas applicants are assessed through recognized English language tests — either the Occupational English Test (OET) with minimum grades of B in all four domains, or IELTS Academic with minimum scores of 7.0 in each domain and 7.0 overall. Evidence of meeting the language requirement must be sent to the NMC alongside other registration documents. The language test must have been taken within two years of the registration application submission date unless the applicant qualifies for an exemption based on training conducted entirely in English.
After the NMC assesses overseas qualifications and deems them sufficiently comparable to UK nursing education, applicants must complete a period of supervised practice — the length of which varies based on the assessment outcome — and pass the computer-based test and OSCE. The CBT is taken at Pearson VUE test centres in the applicant's home country or in the UK, not at the NMC's Portland Place address.
The OSCE is conducted at approved UK assessment centres, meaning overseas applicants must travel to the UK for this phase of the process. All correspondence about these assessment stages is managed through NMC Online and by email to the address registered with the NMC.
Applicants who have questions about whether their overseas nursing qualification is likely to meet NMC standards before committing to the full registration process can write to the NMC for a preliminary assessment. While this is not a binding determination, it gives overseas applicants a clearer picture of whether they should proceed with formal registration. The NMC also lists on its website which nursing regulators in other countries have mutual recognition agreements with the NMC that streamline the registration process for nurses from those jurisdictions.
Throughout the registration and overseas application process, correspondence timelines are affected by the volume of applications the NMC is receiving at any given time. The NMC publishes average processing time data on its website, which is updated periodically. Applicants monitoring their application should check NMC Online for status updates rather than calling repeatedly, as status tracking is available digitally and phone contact for status updates is not the most efficient use of NMC's telephone capacity.