NMC closes 2025 with strongest Fitness to Practise performance in five years

In November, the rolling average of FtP cases being resolved end-to-end within 15 months rose to 72.3% – the highest it has been since February 2021.

That is up from 71.9% and 71.8% in September and October, respectively, and from 65.7% in November 2024.

Meanwhile, the total number of cases held at screening – the initial assessment stage of FtP – has dropped to 1,817.

That is the lowest it has been since May 2020, and a marked improvement on the 3,010 cases held at screening in November 2024.

The regulator has been working at pace throughout 2025 to implement its FtP plan, aiming to make faster and fairer decisions.

Much of the improvement in 2025 has been down to an exceptional performance at Screening, with record numbers of decisions being made during a number of months throughout the year.

While improving timeliness remains a priority, the regulator has also rolled out measures to enhance people’s experience of the FtP process, including:

• The establishment of a Professional Support and Engagement Team (PSET) –comprising NMC colleagues with health and social care and other relevant experience – to focus on supporting the most vulnerable registrants involved in FtP
• The launch of a pilot programme for cases relating to registrants’ physical or mental health – bringing together clinical and safeguarding advisers to help ensure investigations are proportionate and individuals are supported to engage
• The successful piloting of more individualised, empathetic communication with registrants referred to FtP
• Investment in in a full upgrade of hearing room technology across NMC hearing venues.

As part of its wider culture transformation programme, the NMC has committed to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) throughout its regulatory processes.

This includes a pledge to eliminate disproportionate FtP referrals by employers in relation to ethnicity and gender by 2030 – with plans to roll out concrete measures in the New Year to achieve this.

Alongside this, the regulator has increased the ethnic diversity of panel members who decide on hearings involving nurses, midwives and nursing associates – 26% of lay panel members and 24% of registrant panel members are now from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, respectively.

Paul Johnson, Deputy Director of Professional Regulation, said:

“When we launched our Fitness to Practise Plan, too many people were getting stuck for too long at all stages of our process. We were acutely aware of the need to improve our performance and thanks to the enormous effort and commitment of our teams, 2025 has been the year when we’ve truly begun to turn around FtP with the most significant improvements being felt at the early stages.

“We’re capping off the year with our key timeliness metric at its strongest point in nearly five years, and our screening caseload at its lowest in more than five years.

“Our improved performance means we’re starting to deliver a faster, fairer, and crucially, a better experience for people going through our processes. However, we know there is still a long way to go before everybody will feel the benefit of faster and fairer regulation. We’re determined to keep building on our momentum in 2026 by delivering improvements at the Investigation and Adjudication stages of our process.”

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