Professional registration, regulation and revalidation
Anyone wishing to practise as a physiotherapist in the United Kingdom (UK) is required by law to be registered with the UK regulator for the health professions, which is the Health Professions Council (HPC).
The primary role of the regulator is to protect the public and their registers are therefore open to the public so they can check their physiotherapist is registered. In order to gain registration, every physiotherapist is required to demonstrate they meet the HPC’s standards. The HPC sets Standards of Proficiency and Standards of Education and Training.
All qualifying physiotherapy programmes listed on our website meet the HPC standards of education and training so anyone who successfully completes one of these programmes is eligible for registration with the HPC. People who have qualified outside the UK need to provide evidence to the HPC that they can meet the same standards as those reached by physiotherapists studying in the UK. All physiotherapists are required to re-register with the HPC every two years and provide evidence that they have been developing, and are continuing to, develop their knowledge and skills while they are registered.
For more information about regulation please refer to the HPC website: www.hpc-uk.org.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) is the UK professional body for physiotherapy to which over 90% of all practising physiotherapists belong. Anyone wishing to become a full member of the CSP must be registered with the Health Professions Council. All physiotherapy students are strongly encouraged to join as student members - there are many benefits that come with having a subscription. The CSP sets its own curriculum framework and criteria for programme recognition for qualifying physiotherapy programmes.
As of September 2008, not all UK qualifying programmes in physiotherapy will necessarily continue to hold CSP approval. This is because of the introduction of new arrangements for how higher education institutions (HEIs) engage with the CSP as the professional body for physiotherapy in the UK. See the qualifying programmes page for those that do carry our approval.
If you are applying for a place on a physiotherapy programme as of September 2008, you should check with individual higher education institutions about whether they intend to continue to engage with the CSP and to maintain professional body approval of their programme.
Whether or not a qualifying physiotherapy programme holds CSP approval will affect how you can progress to becoming a chartered physiotherapist when you graduate:
- if you follow a CSP-approved programme, you will be eligible to seek chartered physiotherapist status when you qualify (as well as being eligible to apply for qualified membership of the CSP)
- if you follow a programme that does not carry CSP approval, you will still be eligible to apply for qualified membership of the CSP, but will need to progress to chartered status through a route you follow once you are qualified.
- students who do not join the CSP as student members pay a higher registration fee to join the professional body on qualification
You are able to apply for CSP student membership if you are enrolled on any UK qualifying physiotherapy programme (all of which require approval from the Health Professions Council [HPC]). See more information on this site about becoming a physiotherapist.
