Work as a dietitian in the UK: HCPC registration (2026)

• Your first practising qualification is in dietetics or clinical nutrition and dietetics, gained outside the UK, and you have never held HCPC registration.
• The course covered clinical dietetics, biochemistry, pathophysiology and pharmacology, not only food science and community nutrition.
• You completed supervised dietetic practice with real patients, inside the degree or as a documented internship, and can show the hours and the supervisor.
• You can show you have assessed nutritional needs, planned and monitored therapeutic diets, and managed enteral or parenteral nutrition support, as the dietitian standards require.
• You can show awareness of the ethics and law of withholding and withdrawing feeding, which the dietitian standards name directly.
• Your English meets the HCPC level (IELTS 7.0 overall, 6.5 minimum per skill, or OET Dietetics 1400 with 300 minimum per sub-test), unless you trained in a listed English-speaking country.
• A senior or chief dietitian who supervised you can act as referee from an official work email address.
• Training in Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland follows the separate Free Trade Agreement route.

Check your route with the route finder

• HCPCHealth and Care Professions Council

  Physiotherapists, radiographers, paramedics and other allied health professions

  How to register with the HCPC

1. 1

   Check your degree against the dietitian standards

   Download the HCPC standards of proficiency for dietitians. Confirm that your course included clinical dietetics and supervised practice, not only nutrition science. If your internship was a separate programme, gather its documents too.
2. 2

   Pass an accepted English test

   Take IELTS (7.0, no element below 6.5), TOEFL iBT, or the OET test for dietetics (1400, no element below 300). Results must be under two years old at submission.
3. 3

   Ask for the course information form

   Your university completes the form with learning outcomes, content, assessments and theory and practical hours, then stamps and signs it. The supervised practice hours are crucial for dietitians, so ask for them to be clearly stated.
4. 4

   Prepare certified documents

   Certify identity, address, qualification and English documents, and translations where needed. Include internship certificates if they are separate from the degree.
5. 5

   Write your experience and mapping evidence

   Describe your dietetic practice in your own words, most recent first, up to 20,000 characters. Include caseloads such as diabetes, renal, oncology, critical care or paediatric nutrition, and any tube feeding or parenteral nutrition work. Do not use AI; the HCPC checks for it.
6. 6

   Arrange referees

   A chief dietitian or clinical supervisor is best. They must use an official work email address. The HCPC contacts referees during verification.
7. 7

   Submit and pay the scrutiny fee

   Complete the online form and pay the £678.38 scrutiny fee. Two dietitian assessors then review your file over about 3 months.
8. 8

   Outcome from the dietitian assessors

   The decision letter comes with a Record of Assessment that names any standards not met. For dietitians these are most often clinical nutrition support, pharmacology or behaviour change. If refused, read that record before you decide whether to appeal within 28 days or reapply with new evidence.
9. 9

   Register and apply for jobs

   Pay the registration fee after verification. Apply for Band 5 or Band 6 dietitian roles on NHS Jobs and apply for the Health and Care Worker visa once you have a certificate of sponsorship.

• Test of competence for dietitians

  If your paper evidence leaves gaps, the HCPC refers you for a test of competence: a structured professional discussion with two registered dietitians, built around the standards your application did not show. For a dietitian, expect questions on a case such as a malnourished inpatient, a renal or diabetic diet, or starting and monitoring a tube feed, and on how UK consent, capacity and record keeping apply. The HCPC says it is usually on Microsoft Teams, must be done within 12 months, and results come within two weeks. The general rules for the test are on our HCPC regulator page.

• OET Dietetics, IELTS or TOEFL iBT

  OET has a dietetics version with case notes and role plays about diet counselling, so many dietitians find it closer to their daily work than IELTS. IELTS must be sat at a test centre. TOEFL iBT is accepted only if taken outside the UK.

  Read the guide

• Unless your qualification came from a country the HCPC lists as mainly English speaking, you need an English certificate under two years old when the HCPC receives your application.
• Dietitians sit at the standard HCPC level, which is lower than for speech and language therapists: IELTS 7.0 overall and nothing under 6.5, or OET Dietetics 1400 and nothing under 300.
• OET Dietetics is written for dietitians: the writing task is usually a referral or discharge letter from dietetic case notes, and the speaking role plays are diet counselling conversations. Candidates who struggle with IELTS academic writing often prefer it.
• TOEFL iBT: for tests from 21 January 2026, the HCPC sets band scores of 4.5 for Reading and Writing, 5 for Listening and Speaking, and 5 overall.
• The full list of accepted tests, retake rules and exempt countries is the same for every HCPC profession and is on our HCPC regulator page.
• The visa needs its own English evidence at CEFR B2. An IELTS for UKVI result at the HCPC level can cover both if it is still in date.

Estimate your total cost

• If your internship was run by a hospital or a separate programme, collect its logbook and certificate at the same time as the university course information form. Two institutions often mean two waits.
• Allow time to reach IELTS 7.0 with 6.5 in every skill or OET Dietetics 1400. Writing is the usual weak band.
• The HCPC says it currently takes about 3 months from a complete application to a first decision by two dietitian assessors, and longer when international volumes are high.
• After acceptance, the HCPC checks your details with your university, any regulator you have held a licence with, and your dietetic referees. Slow replies from a Gulf or home-country hospital are a common hold-up.
• A test of competence, if offered, must be done within 12 months of referral.
• Many overseas dietitians start job hunting while waiting; the BDA notes some work as dietetic support workers at Band 3 or 4 in the meantime, which is a different job with a different visa position.

NHS Health Careers says dietitians typically start on Agenda for Change Band 5. Figures are NHS Employers 2026/27 annual pay points from 1 April 2026. Pay in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can differ, and London adds a high cost area supplement.

• Band 5 (dietitian)

  £32,073 to £39,043

  Typical starting band for a newly registered dietitian, according to NHS Health Careers.

• Band 6 (specialist dietitian)

  £39,959 to £48,117

• Band 7 (highly specialist or team lead)

  £49,387 to £56,515

• Band 8a (advanced or service lead)

  £57,528 to £64,750

See your NHS band and annual pay

• NHS acute hospitals: ward, critical care, oncology, renal, gastroenterology and diabetes dietetics.
• NHS community dietetic services and home enteral feeding teams.
• NHS mental health services, including eating disorder teams.
• Paediatric and neonatal dietetic services in children's hospitals.
• Public health, health promotion and weight management services.
• Private sector and food industry roles (these may not be able to sponsor a Health and Care Worker visa).

• The shared parts of the move, including Health and Care Worker visa fees, the salary threshold, the visa English rule and the HCPC application mechanics, are covered once on our UK country guide and our HCPC regulator page. Below is only what is specific to dietitians.
• Your sponsor uses SOC 2020 code 2259, other health professionals not elsewhere classified. Older guides quote 2219, a code from the previous classification. GOV.UK lists 2259 as eligible for new Health and Care Worker applications.
• For NHS dietitian posts the going rate is set from the NHS pay scales, so a Band 5 or Band 6 dietitian salary in the NHS meets it. Check the band on the job advert against GOV.UK's national pay scales table.
• Food industry, sports nutrition or private clinic posts are often outside the NHS and adult social care, so the employer may need to use the Skilled Worker visa instead.
• A dietetic support worker post at Band 3 or 4 is not a dietitian role. It does not use code 2259, so check with the employer whether it can be sponsored at all before you accept it.

1. 1

   A DHA, DOH, MOHAP, SCFHS, QCHP or other GCC licence as a clinical dietitian does not transfer. The HCPC looks at the qualification that first let you practise, then your experience.

2. 2

   Gulf hospital work in diabetes, obesity and bariatric care, renal, ICU nutrition support and tube feeding is strong evidence. Describe the decisions you made, not just the wards you covered.

3. 3

   If a Gulf authority licensed you as a nutritionist or clinical nutritionist rather than a dietitian, check your degree against the dietitian standards before you pay the scrutiny fee.

4. 4

   Ask your chief dietitian to act as referee from an official hospital email before you leave, and request letters of good standing from every GCC authority you were licensed by.

5. 5

   Gulf dietetic notes are often bilingual. Write your experience section in your own English, because assessors judge it against UK practice and the HCPC checks for AI use.

• Application plan with every step, fee and deadline

• Document checklist tailored to you, and a review of each document before upload

• Timeline built around the regulator's closure windows and document validity periods

• Help completing the application forms accurately and consistently

• Support with profession-specific evidence, such as the HCPC standards of proficiency mapping

• Guidance on certificates of good standing, references and certified translations

• Preparation for identity checks and declarations on health and character

• Tracking your application and help responding to regulator requests

• Next steps after the decision: exams, adaptation, PIN or licence and your first job

Regulators make all registration decisions and set all fees. Our fee is separate from the regulator's fees, exam fees and translation costs.

What our registration and licensing support includesPackages and fees