Paramedics, physiotherapists, radiographers and the other HCPC professions
HCPC fitness to practise: defence for the 15 professions it regulates
The Health and Care Professions Council regulates 15 professions. They are arts therapists, biomedical scientists, chiropodists and podiatrists, clinical scientists, dietitians, hearing aid dispensers and occupational therapists. It also regulates operating department practitioners, orthoptists, paramedics, physiotherapists, practitioner psychologists, prosthetists and orthotists, radiographers, and speech and language therapists. Its process has its own stages and time limits, and this page sets them out from its rules, policies and the Health Professions Order 2001.
Deadline this week? Call 07356 071 193 or send us a message.
Day one
When the HCPC letter arrives
Do
- Note every date. You have 28 days from the HCPC's letter to respond to the allegation. Without an application to the Investigating Committee, the most it can grant is a further 28 days.
- Tell your union, professional body or indemnity provider straight away. Standard 9.5 also requires you to tell the HCPC as soon as possible if you accept a caution or face a criminal charge.
- Keep the records, incident reports and correspondence as they are, and take copies.
- Write a private note of what you remember while it is fresh.
- Speak to us before you reply to the HCPC or to your employer's investigator.
Do not
- Reply to the HCPC straight away to explain yourself.
- Contact the service user or the person who raised the concern.
- Change or add to records after the event.
- Discuss the case with colleagues who may become witnesses.
- Post about it online, even in a closed group.
The stages
How an HCPC case runs, in the HCPC's own terms
Triage, initial investigation and the threshold
A case manager first checks that the concern is within the HCPC's remit. If it is, the HCPC carries out an initial investigation. It then tests the concern against the threshold criteria in its Threshold Policy for fitness to practise investigations, which has applied since 14 January 2019. The HCPC closes concerns that do not meet the threshold. Serious concerns, such as serious violence or sexual offences, go straight to the Investigating Committee from triage. The HCPC may notify your employer and ask it for information.
The allegation and your response
Once the concern meets the threshold, the HCPC drafts the allegation. It sends the allegation to you with the information it has gathered, and you have 28 days from the letter to respond in writing. The HCPC can extend that by a further 28 days at most without an application to the Investigating Committee. Your response does not go to the person who raised the concern. The Investigating Committee rules require written representations within 28 days, beginning with the date the HCPC sends the notice.
The Investigating Committee Panel
A panel of three meets in private on the papers. Its members are a chair, a member of your profession and a lay member. The panel decides whether there is a realistic prospect of proving the allegation at a final hearing. It does not decide the facts. It can adjourn, or find a case to answer and send the case to a final hearing. Or it can find no case to answer and close it. A no case to answer decision from the previous three years can go back before the panel with a new allegation. There is no appeal from the panel's decision, only judicial review within three months.
Interim orders
The HCPC applies to a practice committee panel for an interim order. It says it tries to give seven days' notice of the hearing. Article 31 of the Health Professions Order 2001 governs these orders, and under it the panel may suspend your registration or impose conditions for up to 18 months. The panel must be satisfied that the order is necessary for the protection of the public. Failing that, it must be satisfied that the order is otherwise in the public interest or in your interests. It must review the order within six months, then before the end of each further three months. The HCPC can ask the High Court to extend it by up to 12 months. Our guide to interim orders explains how to prepare.
The final hearing
The Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service runs the hearings. A Conduct and Competence Panel hears cases of misconduct, lack of competence, convictions and cautions, while a Health Panel hears health cases. The HCPC must disclose its material at least 42 days before the hearing. You must send what you rely on at least 28 days before.
If the panel finds impairment, article 29 of the Order and the HCPC's sanctions policy of 2 March 2026 set its options. First, the panel can take no action. It can make a caution order of one to five years, and it considers the length from one year upwards. A conditions of practice order can last up to three years. A suspension order lasts up to one year, and the panel reviews it before it expires. The last option is a striking off order. In lack of competence and health cases, striking off needs two continuous years of suspension or conditions first. After striking off, you cannot apply for restoration for five years. The panel may add an interim order to cover the appeal period.
Appeal
Article 29(10) gives 28 days to appeal, beginning with the date of service of notice of the order on you. The order does not take effect until that period ends or the court decides any appeal. In England and Wales the appeal goes to the High Court. Appeals run through a regulated law firm we work with, and we stay involved.
How we help
What you can expect from Eloquia
Saqib Khan leads your case from the first letter. A specialist barrister works alongside him from the outset, rather than appearing only once the tribunal lists a hearing. We put the most effort in early, because the stage you can still influence is the one that repays preparation. We set a clear account of the events against the records and add evidence of what you have done since. That gives the decision maker a reason to close the case or to choose the least restrictive outcome.
Before each stage starts, we confirm in writing what it covers and what it costs. You then decide whether to go ahead, and you deal with the same people throughout. Where a hearing follows, we prepare the evidence, the witness statements and any expert report. We also prepare you to give evidence, and we present your case.
You may also face a police investigation, an inquest or a disciplinary process at work. If so, we run every track as one strategy, so that nothing said in one forum harms you in another.
Fees
The same fixed fee approach as for doctors
We quote a fixed fee for each stage before it starts, in the same way as we do for doctors, and we state every fee plus VAT. You pay stage by stage, so you never pay in advance for a hearing that may not happen. We do not act on conditional fee agreements. Our fee menu for GMC cases shows how we price the stages of a doctor's case. We price the stages of your case on the same basis. If your indemnity provider, union or defence organisation has declined to help, read our page on cover refused or limited.
We state every fee plus VAT, and each includes a specialist barrister. We involve the barrister from the outset to give you additional support and advice. Fees do not include additional expenses such as expert fees, which we quote separately.
Read at source
The rules and guidance this page draws on
Sources
- Health Professions Order 2001, article 29 (orders and appeals)
- Health Professions Order 2001, article 31 (interim orders)
- Consolidated fitness to practise rules, to 29 April 2025 (HCPC)
- Sanctions policy, 2 March 2026 (HCPC)
- Threshold policy for fitness to practise investigations (HCPC)
- What our investigation would involve (HCPC)
- The Investigating Committee (HCPC)
- Interim orders (HCPC)
- What happens if a concern about me goes to a hearing (HCPC)
- The professions we regulate (HCPC)
- Standards of conduct, performance and ethics (standard 9.5) (HCPC)
Questions and answers
Questions HCPC registrants ask
How long do I have to respond to an HCPC allegation?
28 days from the HCPC's letter. The HCPC can extend that by no more than a further 28 days, and after that you must apply in writing to the Investigating Committee. Your response goes before the Investigating Committee Panel with everything else the HCPC has gathered. It does not go to the person who raised the concern.
What does the HCPC Investigating Committee Panel decide?
Whether there is a realistic prospect of proving the allegation at a final hearing. A panel of three meets in private on the papers and does not decide the facts. It can adjourn, or find a case to answer and send the case to a final hearing. Otherwise it can find no case to answer and close it. There is no appeal from its decision, only judicial review within three months.
How long can an HCPC interim order last?
Up to 18 months under article 31 of the Health Professions Order 2001. The panel must review it within six months, then before the end of each further three months. The HCPC can ask the High Court to extend it by up to 12 months. For the interim order hearing itself, the HCPC tries to give seven days' notice.
What sanctions can an HCPC panel impose?
The panel can take no action or make a caution order of one to five years. It can also impose a conditions of practice order of up to three years, a suspension order of up to one year or a striking off order. In lack of competence and health cases, striking off needs two continuous years of suspension or conditions first. You cannot apply for restoration for five years after it.
How long do I have to appeal an HCPC decision?
28 days under article 29(10) of the Order, beginning with the date of service of notice of the order on you. The order does not take effect until that period ends or the court decides the appeal. In England and Wales the appeal goes to the High Court.
Does Eloquia act for HCPC registrants on fixed fees?
Yes, for every profession the HCPC regulates. We quote a fixed fee for each stage before it starts, stated plus VAT. Each fee includes a specialist barrister from the outset, and we quote expert fees separately. Our fees and funding page explains how staged payment works.
More answers sit on our questions and answers page, and our glossary explains the terms regulators use.
Read more
Guides on this subject
The GMC process
Reflective practice after Bawa-Garba: are your reflections used against you?
Regulators say they will not ask for your reflections. Reflective practice notes carry no legal privilege, so how you write them matters.
The GMC process
Insight and remediation: what tribunals look for and how to evidence it
How the GMC and the MPTS define insight and remediation, and how to build evidence of both from the start.
The GMC process
Interim orders tribunals: what they decide, how often they suspend and how to prepare
The section 41A test an interim orders tribunal applies, what it decides, the 2025 figures and how to prepare.
Arrange a confidential conversation
Call 07356 071 193 or email hello@eloquia.co.uk. Your first conversation may be with our AI assistant, which tells you at the start that it is an AI assistant, not a person or a lawyer, and gives no legal advice. It takes your details and a short questionnaire for Saqib Khan, and where we can help we arrange an appointment with him at a time that suits you both. Our privacy notice explains how what you tell us is handled.