The standards of conduct, performance and ethics are an essential set of standards for all our stakeholders
Why we review the standards
We regularly review the standards of conduct, performance and ethics to make sure they are relevant to current practice, and can be clearly understood by those who use them.
They are important because they:
- set out, in general terms, how we expect our registrants to behave;
- outline what the public should expect from their health and care professional;
- help us to make decisions about the character of professionals who apply to our Register, and
- are used if someone raises a concern about a registrant’s practice: when things go wrong, they help us to decide whether it is necessary to take action.
The standards are essential to the work of HCPC as a regulator.
How we reviewed the standards
The latest review of the standards of conduct, performance and ethics began in May 2022 and included three stages: a pre-consultation period, a formal consultation (on the ten standards and the guidance on social media), and a separate review on the guidance and online materials that we publish alongside the standards.
Pre-consultation period
During the pre-consultation period we ran workshops with different stakeholder groups and a survey that any stakeholder could feed into. Through these, we gathered insight about how individuals use the standards, what they think of them, and what changes the standards may need.
If you missed the workshops, you can watch a live recording below.
Formal consultation
The consultation on the revised standards and guidance began on 27 March 2023 and ended on 16 June 2023. After this, analysis of the feedback was conducted, resulting in five key areas of change.
We published the revised standards and revised guidance on social media in September 2023.
Consultation workshops
To support the consultation period, we hosted six workshops. These workshops explored the key areas of change, provided background and gave the opportunity to ask questions.
Click below to watch a recording on each topic.
An additional theme, sustainability in health and care, was also raised as an area to explore in future. In the meantime, to support registrants, we have published information on sustainable practice.
Final revisions
After a year-long implementation period, the revised standards and guidance came into effect on 1 September 2024.
