NMC Revalidation: The Complete Guide

NMC revalidation is the three-yearly renewal of your registration. It is not an exam, it is not a test of competence, and it should not be a panic in the final month. This complete guide sets out every requirement, the exact hours and numbers, how to prepare across the whole cycle, where people fail, and what to do if your registration lapses.

Revalidation was introduced in 2016, replacing the old three-yearly PREP (Post-Registration Education and Practice) renewal. The idea was to move beyond a simple fee payment and CPD hour count toward a process that demonstrates you are still fit to practise: you have kept working, kept learning, collected feedback, reflected on your practice, and discussed it with another registrant. In practice, for most nurses, it is straightforward if you keep records as you go. It becomes a nightmare only if you leave it to the last six weeks and realise you cannot prove your practice hours.

Your revalidation date is tied to your registration renewal date. You can find it in your NMC Online account. You can submit from 60 days before your renewal date, and you must submit by your renewal date. This guide uses the NMC requirements current at publication (November 2026). Always check the NMC website for the latest position, because fees and occasionally the requirements change.

The eight requirements, in full

There are eight things you must demonstrate. You declare them online, and a confirmer confirms that you have met them. The table below sets out each one exactly.

Each requirement, explained properly

1. Practice hours (450)

You need 450 hours of practice as a nurse, midwife or nursing associate over the three-year period, relevant to your scope of practice. For a full-time Band 5 this is trivial — you do 450 hours in about three months. The problem is evidence. The NMC says you must keep a record including dates, number of hours, the organisation’s name and address, your work setting, a description of the work, and evidence such as timesheets, rota copies, payslips, or a job description. If you have worked for several trusts, or done agency work, gather this as you go. Do not assume HR will be able to produce three years of rotas in a week.

Unpaid practice, voluntary work, and some overseas practice can count if it is relevant and verifiable. If you have had a career break, maternity leave, or long sickness, check the NMC guidance: there are provisions, and if you cannot meet the hours you may need a return to practice course rather than revalidation.

2. CPD hours (35, of which 20 participatory)

Thirty-five hours of CPD over three years is roughly twelve hours a year, which most nurses exceed without trying. The catch is the “participatory” definition: at least 20 of the 35 hours must involve interaction with one or more other professionals, in person or online. A study day, a journal club, a webinar with discussion, a clinical supervision session, or a course all count as participatory. Reading a journal article alone or watching a recorded e-learning module on your own counts as non-participatory. Mandatory training counts as CPD if it is relevant to your scope of practice, but it is worth understanding the difference — read our guide on mandatory training versus CPD so you do not record hours that will not count.

Keep a simple portfolio: date, activity, hours, participatory or not, what you learned, and how you will change your practice. The NMC does not prescribe a format. A spreadsheet, a notebook, or an app all work. The test is whether you can produce the record if asked.

3. Five pieces of practice-related feedback

Feedback can come from patients, relatives, colleagues, students, or managers. It can be formal (a complaint, a compliment card, an appraisal) or informal (a comment from a patient’s family, a debrief after a difficult shift). The rule is that it must be about your practice, and you must record it: who said it, when, what they said, and what you did with it. You do not need the patient’s name, and you should anonymise. Start collecting early. Nurses who leave this to the end struggle to remember five specific instances.

4. Five reflective accounts linked to the Code

Each reflective account is a short written piece (a few hundred words is plenty) about an aspect of your practice, linked explicitly to one or more parts of the NMC Code. It can be about a good experience or a difficult one. It should describe what happened, how you felt, what you learned, what you would do differently, and which Code domains or paragraphs it connects to. Reflection is a skill, and our reflection and portfolio guide walks through the common models (What? So what? Now what?; Gibbs; Driscoll) and gives templates you can adapt.

5. Reflective discussion with another registrant

You must have a face-to-face or live online discussion about your reflective accounts with another NMC registrant. This is often your line manager if they are registered, but it can be any nurse, midwife or nursing associate colleague. It is not a test. It is a conversation. Record the date, who you discussed with, their PIN if you have it, and what you covered. The confirmer will confirm this happened.

6. Health and character declaration

You must declare any health condition that may affect your ability to practise safely, and any cautions, convictions, charges pending, or investigations by another regulator or employer. The NMC guidance is detailed and the threshold is specific. When in doubt, declare. The NMC is generally far more concerned about non-declaration than about a declared and managed condition or a spent minor caution. If you are unsure, ask your union (RCN) or the NMC directly before you submit.

7. Professional indemnity arrangement

You must have an indemnity arrangement in place when you practise. For substantive NHS employees, the NHS vicarious liability and the NHS Resolution scheme satisfy this. If you do any agency, bank (beyond your substantive trust), private, voluntary, or overseas work, check separately. Some nurses take out additional personal indemnity (RCN membership includes legal support and, for members, access to indemnity arrangements depending on the work). Declare that you have it; you do not upload the policy.

8. Confirmation from a confirmer

Your confirmer is the person who confirms you have met requirements 1 to 5 and 7. They do not check every document in detail; they confirm in good faith based on your records and discussion. They must be someone in a position to confirm — usually your line manager, senior nurse, or employer representative. They do not have to be NMC-registered, but if they are not, the NMC expects them to be in a senior role with oversight of your practice. You enter their details in NMC Online and they receive an email to confirm. Agree who your confirmer will be early. If you change jobs close to revalidation, sort this out before you leave — a former manager who does not remember you is a weak confirmer.

How to prepare over the three-year cycle

Revalidation fails at the last minute because of evidence that should have been collected years earlier. Here is a realistic year-by-year plan.

Year 1 (the year you register or revalidate)

• Set up a simple portfolio folder: practice hours log, CPD log, feedback log, reflective accounts.
• Log every shift or at least every month’s hours. Keep rota copies or payslips in a folder.
• Do your mandatory training and log it as CPD (relevant hours only).
• Write your first reflective account after a significant clinical event.
• Join your union and check your indemnity.

Year 2

• Aim for at least 10 participatory CPD hours by the end of year 2 (study days, courses, clinical supervision).
• Collect at least two pieces of feedback and record them.
• Write reflective accounts 2 and 3.
• Have your annual appraisal — this is where much of your evidence naturally lives. Keep the appraisal form.
• If you change jobs, get a reference and a record of hours from your old employer before you leave.

Year 3 (the revalidation year)

• By month 30: check your total hours and CPD. Top up anything missing.
• By month 32: collect the remaining feedback pieces, write the final reflective accounts.
• By month 33: agree your confirmer. Book the reflective discussion.
• By month 34: hold the reflective discussion, record it. Ask your confirmer to confirm they will respond to the NMC email.
• From 60 days before renewal: log in to NMC Online, complete the declaration, pay the fee, submit.
• Do not leave it to the final week. The confirmer email can go to spam, and NMC Online can be slow.

How appraisal feeds in

NHS appraisal and NMC revalidation are separate processes, but they share almost all the same evidence. Your appraisal folder — CPD records, feedback, objectives, reflective discussion, job plan — is the raw material for revalidation. If you keep a good appraisal portfolio, you are eighty per cent there. The difference is that revalidation requires the specific five reflective accounts linked to the Code, the five pieces of feedback, and the confirmer confirmation, which appraisal does not automatically produce. Treat your appraisal as the engine, and do a small revalidation-specific top-up in the final six months.

Common fail points (and how to avoid them)

What happens if you miss the deadline

If you do not revalidate and pay by your renewal date, your registration lapses. It is automatic. There is no grace period. From that point you cannot practise as a registered nurse, you cannot use the title, and your employer will remove you from clinical duties (or should). This happens to hundreds of nurses a year, usually because of a forgotten confirmer or a missed email, not because they were incompetent.

If you lapse, the route back is restoration. You apply through NMC Online, pay the restoration/readmission fee plus the annual registration fee, and provide revalidation evidence with the application. At the time of writing (2026 figures, check the NMC for current rates) the restoration fee is around £140 on top of the annual fee, and a clean application takes roughly two to six weeks to process, sometimes longer. If you have been off the register for more than two years, or cannot evidence the required practice hours, you may need a return to practice course before you can restore, which adds months and cost. The NMC’s own guidance says readmission can take between two and six weeks; plan for the longer end.

The financial lesson: letting your registration lapse to save one year’s fee is never cost-effective. You pay the restoration fee, the annual fee, and you lose wages for weeks while you cannot work. Set a direct debit for the annual fee, set three calendar reminders for your revalidation date, and submit early.

The NMC Online portal, in brief

Everything happens through NMC Online (sometimes referred to as MyNMC). You will have set up an account when you registered. Keep your login details somewhere safe. Within the portal you can see your renewal date, enter your revalidation details, record CPD (the NMC provides a CPD record tool), nominate your confirmer, make the health and character declaration, confirm indemnity, and pay. The confirmer receives an automated email with a link to confirm. Once they confirm and you submit, you will receive a confirmation and your new registration certificate. Keep a copy of the submission confirmation — it is your proof that you revalidated on time.

Part-time, agency, career breaks and overseas work

Revalidation is designed for full-time employees, but most nurses’ careers are messier than that. If you work part-time, 450 hours over three years is still easily achievable — a 0.5 WTE post gives you around 1,900 hours in three years. Keep the same evidence: rotas, payslips, contracts. If you work through an agency or bank only, the same rule applies; collect timesheets or agency payslips with the trust name and dates. If you have a career break, maternity leave, long sickness or extended unpaid leave, check the NMC guidance carefully. You may still be able to revalidate if you can evidence the hours before and after the break, but if the gap is long you may need a return to practice course. The NMC’s readmission and return to practice guidance is specific, and the RCN can advise members. Do not assume a break disqualifies you, but do not leave it to the final month to find out.

Overseas practice can count if it is relevant nursing practice and verifiable, but the NMC expects the bulk of your practice to be within a UK-equivalent scope. If you have worked overseas for part of the cycle, keep contracts, references and hours records, and declare it. The health and character declaration also asks about investigations by other regulators, so if you worked in another country and had any regulatory issue, declare it.

What happens after you submit: the NMC audit

Most revalidation submissions are accepted on the declaration, and you receive confirmation quickly. But the NMC audits a sample of revalidations every year. If you are selected, the NMC will ask to see your evidence — practice hours records, CPD records, feedback, reflective accounts, proof of the reflective discussion. You do not send this evidence at submission; you keep it and produce it if asked. The NMC recommends keeping your revalidation evidence for at least three years after submission. This is why a proper portfolio matters: if you are audited and cannot produce the evidence, your revalidation can be revoked and your registration lapsed. Keep everything in one folder, digital or paper, and keep it after you submit.

The final six months, month by month

If you have followed the three-year plan, the final six months are straightforward. Month minus six: check your hours total and CPD total; book any top-up study days. Month minus five: confirm your confirmer is still in post and willing; book the reflective discussion. Month minus four: collect any outstanding feedback and write the final reflective accounts; ensure each one explicitly names the Code paragraphs it links to. Month minus three: hold the reflective discussion, record it, and ask your confirmer to watch for the NMC email. Month minus two: log in to NMC Online from the 60-day point, complete the health and character declaration, confirm indemnity, nominate your confirmer, pay. Month minus one: chase your confirmer if they have not confirmed; submit; save the confirmation. Never leave it to the final week, because confirmer emails go to spam and the NMC phone lines are busiest at month-end.

Fees, direct debit and reminders

There is no separate revalidation fee, but you must have paid your annual registration fee to renew. The simplest way to never miss a fee is to set up a direct debit with the NMC, either annually or quarterly. If you pay by direct debit, the fee is taken automatically and you cannot lapse through non-payment. If you pay by card, set three reminders: one month before, one week before, and the day before. At the time of writing (November 2026) the annual fee is £120, with a consultation on increases concluded in 2025; check the NMC fees page for the current figure. The restoration fee if you lapse is higher than the annual fee, and you lose wages while off the register, so a direct debit is the single most reliable protection against an avoidable lapse.

Choosing and working with your confirmer

The confirmer is the single point of failure in most revalidation submissions, so choose carefully. Your confirmer should be someone who knows your practice — ideally your line manager or a senior nurse who has observed your work over the cycle. They do not need to read every reflective account or check every timesheet; they confirm in good faith that you have met the requirements based on your records and your discussion with them. Meet with them at least a month before you intend to submit, show them your portfolio summary, agree the date, and then nominate them in NMC Online. The NMC sends them an automated email with a confirmation link. If they do not respond within a few days, chase them — the email often lands in a junk or NHS quarantine folder. Always have a backup confirmer identified, in case your manager leaves, goes on long-term sick, or is on annual leave when you need them. If you change jobs in the final year, ask your former manager to confirm the earlier part of the cycle and your new manager to confirm the rest; the NMC accepts confirmation from someone who has known your practice for at least part of the period, and the guidance sets out the minimum contact expected.

What makes a reflective account strong enough

Weak reflective accounts are the most common reason an NMC audit asks for more evidence. A strong account is 200 to 400 words and follows a clear structure: what happened (factual, anonymised), how you felt and why, what the Code says about this situation (name the domain and the paragraph number), what you learned, and what you changed in your practice as a result. The link to the Code is not optional — the NMC explicitly requires each account to relate to the Code. Use a recognised model (Driscoll’s What? So what? Now what? is the shortest and most reliable) and vary the topics: one clinical event, one communication challenge, one about teamwork or leadership, one about learning something new, one about a patient feedback moment. Do not write all five in one weekend. Write them as the moments happen, when the detail is fresh and the reflection is genuine. Our reflection and portfolio guide has templates you can adapt, and keeping a running reflection log makes revalidation feel like editing rather than writing from scratch.

Final word

Revalidation is a paperwork problem, not a clinical one. The nurses who find it stressful are the ones who try to reconstruct three years of evidence in four weekends. The ones who breeze through keep a simple portfolio, log hours and CPD monthly, collect feedback as it happens, and book their confirmer early. Start your portfolio the week you get your PIN, and revalidation will never be a crisis.