NMC PIN

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) says every person on its register is given a unique registration code called a PIN. The NMC's own forms describe the format as NNLNNNNL, where N is a number and L is a letter, so a PIN looks like two digits, a letter, four digits and a final letter.

The PIN is how employers, patients and other professionals identify you on the register. It is the nursing equivalent of a doctor's GMC reference number.

You receive a PIN when you are entered on the NMC register as a nurse, midwife or nursing associate. If you trained abroad, that comes at the end of the international route: qualification and English checks, the CBT, and the OSCE that together make up the test of competence. Until you are registered you do not have a PIN and cannot practise as a registered nurse or use that protected title. Our guides to the NMC CBT and NMC OSCE explain those steps.

The NMC regulates nurses and midwives across the UK and nursing associates in England, so the same PIN system applies wherever in the UK you work. Your registration, and the PIN that identifies it, stays valid only while you pay the annual fee and revalidate on time.

1. Register checks: anyone can search the NMC register free of charge. The NMC says searching by PIN gives the most accurate result, and a nurse, midwife or nursing associate should give their PIN when asked by someone using their services.
2. Employer checks: the NMC's employer confirmation service lets registered employers check up to 10 PINs at once.
3. Revalidation: when you revalidate, you enter the PIN of your reflective discussion partner and, if they are on the NMC register, your confirmer. Entering your own PIN by mistake stops the application.
4. Day-to-day: you give it to employers and agencies so they can check your status before and during employment.

A register search shows your name, registration status, geographical location, expiry date, register entry, start date and recorded qualifications. Status terms include registered, suspended, conditions of practice, caution order and warnings, which reflect any fitness to practise outcome.

"Registered" means on the register with no restrictions or cautions. "Not currently practising" means the person has told the NMC they no longer practise but stays on the register until the current period ends. An interim suspension order means they cannot practise while an investigation continues. A "sanction pending" status means a final sanction will take effect after the 28-day appeal period or any appeal.

• Confusing your PIN with an application or candidate reference used before registration.
• Letting registration lapse by missing the annual fee, now £143 for notices sent from 1 October 2026. The NMC says readmission can take between two and six weeks.
• Keeping out-of-date contact details in MyNMC, so you miss fee and revalidation reminders.