Professional Qualifications Act 2022

8 Duty of regulator to publish information on requirements to practise U.K.

(1) A regulator of a regulated profession must—

(a) publish the information mentioned in subsection (2) on a website that—

(i) is maintained by the regulator,

(ii) is publicly accessible, and

(iii) is easy to use, and

(b) keep that information up to date.

(2) The information is—

(a) information as to the qualifications or experience an individual must obtain to become entitled to practise the profession (disregarding any exception to the need to obtain those qualifications or that experience);

(b) information as to any application process by which an individual who has not obtained the qualifications or experience mentioned in paragraph (a) may seek to become entitled to practise the profession in reliance on overseas qualifications or overseas experience;

(c) information as to any application process to which section 26 of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 applies by which an individual who has not obtained the qualifications or experience mentioned in paragraph (a) may seek to become entitled to practise the profession in reliance on UK qualifications or UK experience;

(d) in a case where there is an application process of a sort mentioned in paragraph (b) or (c), information as to—

(i) the number of individuals who have sought to become entitled to practise the profession by means of the process;

(ii) the number of individuals who have become entitled to practise the profession by means of the process; and

(iii) the qualifications or experience held by individuals who have become entitled to practise the profession by means of the process;

(e) information as to any requirement for an individual to be registered, licensed or similarly authorised in order to become entitled to practise the profession;

(f) information as to any other requirement that must be met by an individual to become entitled to practise the profession;

(g) information as to any requirement as to training, learning or otherwise that must be met by an individual to continue to be entitled to practise the profession;

(h) information as to how any requirement mentioned in paragraph (g) may be met (such as information as to the institutions from which any training or learning may be obtained);

(i) information as to any fees payable to the regulator by individuals seeking to become or to continue to be entitled to practise the profession (such as fees payable on making an application to be registered to practise the profession); and

(j) such other information relating to the regulation of the profession as may be specified by the appropriate national authority.

(3) Where—

(a) there is no application process of a sort mentioned in subsection (2)(b),

(b) there is no application process of a sort mentioned in subsection (2)(c),

(c) there is no requirement of a sort mentioned in subsection (2)(e),

(d) there is no requirement of a sort mentioned in subsection (2)(f),

(e) there is no requirement of a sort mentioned in subsection (2)(g), or

(f) there are no fees of a sort mentioned in subsection (2)(i),

the regulator mentioned in subsection (1) must publish a statement that this is the case on the website mentioned in that subsection.

(4) Where the regulator mentioned in subsection (1) is not the only regulator of the regulated profession—

(a) that regulator must publish on the website mentioned in subsection (1) a statement that identifies the other regulator,

(b) the reference in subsection (2)(i) to that regulator is to be read as including a reference to the other regulator,

(c) anything done by that regulator is to be taken for the purposes of this section to have also been done by the other regulator, and

(d) the website mentioned in subsection (1) is to be taken for the purposes of this section to also be maintained by the other regulator.

(5) Where the regulatory functions of the regulator mentioned in subsection (1) are exercisable throughout the United Kingdom, the references in subsection (2) to becoming or continuing to be entitled to practise the regulated profession are to be read as references to becoming or continuing to be entitled to practise the regulated profession in the United Kingdom.

(6) Where the regulatory functions of the regulator mentioned in subsection (1) are exercisable only in a part of the United Kingdom—

(a) the references in subsection (2) to becoming or continuing to be entitled to practise the regulated profession are to be read as references to becoming or continuing to be entitled to practise the regulated profession in that part of the United Kingdom, and

(b) the reference in subsection (4) to a case where that regulator is not the only regulator of the regulated profession is to be read as a reference to a case where that regulator is not the only regulator of the regulated profession with regulatory functions exercisable in that part of the United Kingdom.

(7) In this section “regulatory functions” means functions under legislation that relate to the regulation of the regulated profession mentioned in subsection (1).

Commencement Information

I1 S. 8 in force at Royal Assent for specified purposes, see s. 21(1)(d)

I2 S. 8 in force at 28.10.2022 in so far as not already in force, see s. 21(3)