CCPS (Certificate of Current Professional Status)

CCPS is the name the UK and Irish regulators use for what elsewhere is called a certificate of good standing or letter of good standing. It lets the receiving regulator see your record without relying on your own word.

An NMC CCPS confirms your full name and registered address, your NMC PIN, date of birth, the dates you were on the register, information about your qualification, and whether there is a fitness to practise sanction, undertaking or warning.

A GMC certificate shows your registration and licence status, registration history, identifying details including your GMC number, whether your registration has been restricted, suspended or revoked, and relevant fitness to practise information. GMC certificates are issued in English.

You need a CCPS from every regulator you are or were registered with when you apply elsewhere. UK-registered nurses moving to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the USA, for example, request one from the NMC. Applicants to NMBI in Ireland must supply a CCPS from all jurisdictions where they are or were registered, issued within six months before they apply. The Medical Council in Ireland wants an original CCPS dated within the last three months, sent directly by each overseas authority.

If you are moving into the UK or Ireland, the CCPS works the other way round: you ask each regulator abroad to issue one to the GMC, NMC, NMBI or Medical Council. Gulf and other regulators each have their own request process and fees, and some only send certificates directly. Our guide from a Gulf licence to UK registration covers this.

1. Apply to register in the new country first. The NMC says to request a CCPS after you have applied there.
2. NMC: log in to MyNMC, choose My Registration, then Request a certificate of current professional status. Give the country, the authority's name and address and any overseas reference number. Make a separate request for each authority.
3. GMC: log in to GMC Online, choose My registration, then My CCPS requests.
4. Wait for confirmation. The NMC uploads the CCPS to MyNMC and tells the authority it can download it from a secure portal. The GMC sends it directly to the other medical regulator.

The NMC says it usually issues within 24 hours once it has all the references it needs. The GMC usually processes requests within 10 working days. Both certificates are valid for three months, so do not request too early.

Points that catch people out: since September 2020 the GMC sends certificates only to another medical regulatory authority, not to employers or to you. The NMC does not issue paper certificates or fill in other authorities' forms. And since the UK left the EU, neither can issue a CCPS under the EU Directive, which matters if you are applying under Directive 2005/36/EC.