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NMC revalidation checklist: everything you need, and your real deadline
Every three years, nurses, midwives and nursing associates renew their registration with the NMC by revalidating. Here’s what you need to have ready, and the date that catches people out.
The short version
- Your application date is the 1st of the month your registration expires. NMC Online opens it 60 days before.
- 450 practice hours (900 or 1,350 if you hold more than one registration).
- 35 hours of CPD, with at least 20 participatory.
- 5 pieces of practice-related feedback and 5 written reflective accounts on the NMC form.
- A reflective discussion with another NMC registrant, your health and character declaration, professional indemnity and confirmation.
Work out your deadline
NMC Online shows your registration expiry date, which is always the last day of a month. Your revalidation application date is the first day of that same month. If your registration expires on 30 April, you must submit by 1 April. Miss it and your registration lapses.
You can submit from 60 days before your application date. Everything you count – hours, CPD, feedback and reflections – must come from the three years since you last renewed or joined the register.
Practice hours
| Registration | Hours over 3 years |
|---|---|
| Nurse, midwife or nursing associate (including nurse or midwife with SCPHN) | 450 |
| Nurse and midwife, or nursing associate and nurse | 900 |
| Nurse, midwife and nursing associate | 1,350 |
Hours count when you rely on your skills, knowledge and experience as a registrant – not only direct care, but also management, teaching and roles that shape how care is delivered. If you don’t have enough, you need a return to practice course or a test of competence before your renewal.
CPD
You need 35 hours of CPD relevant to your scope of practice, of which at least 20 hours must be participatory: learning that involved interacting with one or more other professionals, in person or online. For each activity, keep a record of:
- the CPD method;
- a description of the topic and how it relates to your practice;
- the dates;
- the number of hours, including participatory hours;
- the part of the Code most relevant to it;
- evidence that you did it.
Feedback and reflective accounts
Collect five pieces of practice-related feedback – from patients, colleagues, students, appraisals, compliments or complaints, or team audits. Don’t record anything that could identify another person.
Write five reflective accounts on the NMC’s reflective accounts form. Each one can be about CPD, feedback or an event in your practice, and must say how it relates to the Code. They don’t need to be long or academic.
The reflective discussion
Discuss your five reflective accounts with another NMC registrant, and record it on the NMC reflective discussion form, which you both sign. It records their name, NMC PIN, email, professional address and postcode.
Declarations and indemnity
You declare your health and character, including any cautions or convictions. You must also have a professional indemnity arrangement. It’s usually through your employer, but self-employed or agency work your employer doesn’t cover needs its own.
Confirmation
Finally, a confirmer checks that you have met the requirements. Ideally it’s your line manager; if you don’t have one, another NMC registrant; otherwise another UK-regulated healthcare professional – never a family member or close friend. The NMC says to get confirmation in the final year of your three-year period.
Our NMC Revalidation Tracker works out your application date and window, totals your hours and CPD for your period only, tracks your feedback, reflective accounts, discussion and confirmation, and tells you when you’re ready to submit. Use it with the free NMC forms.
NMC Revalidation Tracker on Etsy