Future standards

All four areas of work – the Code, revalidation, practice learning and advanced practice – are fundamental to nursing and midwifery professional practice, and will ensure we protect the public through modernised standards. We are sequencing the work to make sure we can collaborate widely and effectively with our stakeholders and the public.

Our standards must reflect the significant changes that have impacted on health and care delivery in recent years, from EDI to the Covid-19 pandemic, high profile inquiries and the progress of artificial intelligence. The core regulatory work we are delivering will support the professionals on our register to continue delivering safe and effective care in this changing context.

Code and revalidation review

We will start work to modernise the Code and revalidation in 2025–2026.

A modernised Code will set clearer standards in areas where practice has changed over the past decade. This is likely to include areas such as equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), artificial intelligence, behaviour outside of professional practice and use of social media.

We will review our revalidation requirements to ensure they continue to support professionals to develop their practice in line with our Code and standards. Our review will draw on our learning from nine years of the current revalidation model, from independent inquiries and from whistleblowing investigations.

We will aim to consult between July and October 2026. The modernised Code and revalidation process will come into effect in October 2027.

Practice learning review

Following the changes we made to our education programme standards in January 2023, we’re now exploring how together we can best support student learning across the UK. The review will help us continue to ensure the students of today have the right environment and opportunities to be the best nursing and midwifery professionals of tomorrow.

In January 2025, our Council approved five key lines of enquiry for the next phase of the pre-registration practice learning review. These key lines of inquiry were developed using evidence from the Nuffield Trust’s independent research, alongside findings from our evaluation of simulated practice learning for pre-registration nursing programmes, and evidence from our recent work to quality assure nursing and midwifery education programmes which includes insights and themes around practice learning.

We will consult on changes to our practice learning requirements between February and March 2026. If the outcome of our review indicates the need to update our standards, we would look to transition to new standards from September 2026.

Find out more about the Practice learning review

Advanced practice review

We’re developing a range of approaches to additionally regulate advanced nursing and midwifery practitioners who are increasingly taking on complex, autonomous and expert roles - in the best interests of people receiving care. – the complex, autonomous and expert roles that many experienced nurses and midwives carry out.

• We’ve now published new Principles for Advanced Practice.
• Throughout 2025/26 we’ll work to ensure that advanced practice considerations are taken into account through the reviews of revalidation and the Code.
• We’ll continue the transition work to recognise nurses and midwives already practising at an advanced level, exploring potential options and exploring operational implications in preparation for the development of standards.
• In Spring 2027, we’ll begin work to develop standards of proficiency and associated advanced practice programme standards. This will include a public consultation before finalising the new standards. We’ll also ensure that our quality assurance processes are in place and ready to support approval of programmes that meet our standards.
• We’ll then move to Phase 3, implementation of standards and transition.

You can find out more below