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

• Your qualification is in applied psychology and is the one that first allowed you to practise as a psychologist in the country where you trained, and you have never held HCPC registration.
• Your training maps to one of the seven HCPC domains: clinical, counselling, educational, forensic, health, occupational, or sport and exercise psychology.
• You can evidence the profession-specific standards for that domain as well as the generic standards, for example psychological formulation and evidence-based interventions for clinical psychology.
• Your training included supervised practice in the domain, with placement hours your university can state on the course information form, or you can show equivalent supervised practice after qualifying.
• Clinical and counselling applicants trained at master's level should expect assessors to compare them with UK doctoral training and should document supervised casework in detail.
• Your referees are psychologists or service leads who supervised your practice and can reply from an official work email address.
• Unless your qualifying degree is from a country the HCPC lists as English-speaking, you hold IELTS at 7.0 overall with no component under 6.5, or the TOEFL iBT scores the HCPC sets. Psychologists cannot use OET.
• Research-only degrees, psychology degrees without supervised applied practice, and psychotherapy or counselling qualifications that are not psychology do not meet the practitioner psychologist standards.

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

   Pick the domain you can evidence best

   Read the HCPC practitioner psychologist standards and compare your transcript with the profession-specific standards for each domain. Apply in the domain your supervised practice supports, not the job you hope to get. Sport and exercise psychology applications currently face assessment delays, according to the HCPC.
2. 2

   Sit IELTS or TOEFL iBT

   OET has no psychology version and the HCPC does not list it for psychologists. Plan for IELTS 7.0 with every component at 6.5 or higher, or TOEFL iBT taken outside the UK. Results must still be within two years when the HCPC receives your application.
3. 3

   Ask your university for placement detail

   The course information form should show each module with its learning outcomes and the supervised placement or internship hours. Ask the university to name the client groups and settings for each placement, because assessors use these to judge breadth across the lifespan or across settings.
4. 4

   Gather supervised practice evidence after qualifying

   If your licence depended on post-degree supervised hours, collect logs, supervision agreements and letters from supervisors. These often decide whether a master's-level clinical or counselling psychologist is accepted.
5. 5

   Map to the domain standards

   In the experience section and mapping document, show assessment, formulation, intervention, evaluation, consultation and supervision with real (anonymised) case types and the models you used. Write it yourself; the HCPC prohibits AI-written or copied text.
6. 6

   Choose referees who supervised your casework

   A clinical supervisor or head of psychology is the strongest referee. Personal email addresses are refused, so confirm work email addresses before you submit.
7. 7

   Submit and wait for domain assessors

   Two psychologists from your domain review the application. You may be accepted, refused, or referred for a test of competence focused on your gaps.
8. 8

   Register, then target qualified posts

   Once verified and registered, apply for qualified psychologist posts, which NHS Health Careers places at Band 7 for clinical psychologists. Check that the employer can sponsor you on the health route before accepting council, school or private posts.

• Test of competence for psychologists

  If two assessors from your domain cannot decide on paper, the HCPC refers you to a structured professional discussion with two registered psychologists. For psychologists this usually probes the gaps your file left, such as how you formulate a case, choose and evaluate an evidence-based intervention, manage risk and work within UK legal frameworks for your domain. It is normally on Microsoft Teams and must be done within 12 months of referral; full rules are on our HCPC regulator page.

• English: IELTS or TOEFL iBT only

  Psychologists prove English with IELTS (7.0 overall, 6.5 minimum per component, at a test centre) or TOEFL iBT taken outside the UK. There is no OET psychology test, so an OET result from another licensing process cannot be reused.

  Read the guide

• OET is not available to psychologists: the HCPC accepts profession-specific OET only for chiropodists and podiatrists, dietitians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, radiographers, and speech and language therapists.
• For IELTS, psychologists need 7.0 overall with no component below 6.5, the same level as most HCPC professions. Academic or General Training both count if taken at an official test centre.
• TOEFL iBT is the alternative for psychologists. The HCPC set new scaled scores for tests taken from 21 January 2026 and does not accept TOEFL taken in the UK.
• Psychology relies on interviews, formulation letters and reports, so many applicants find the writing and speaking components the hardest. Book early enough to resit within the two-year validity window.
• If your psychology qualification came from a country the HCPC lists as English-speaking, such as the USA, Canada, Australia or Ireland, you do not need a test even if you later worked in the Gulf.
• The full HCPC English rules (validity, one-skill retakes, TOEFL scores) and the separate CEFR B2 rule for the visa are on our HCPC regulator page and UK country guide.

Estimate your total cost

• Collecting supervision logs and placement detail from a university and past supervisors is often the slowest part for psychologists; allow several months if your training was some years ago.
• The HCPC currently reports assessment delays for sport and exercise psychologists and gives no date for when they will clear.
• For other domains, the HCPC's published guide is about 3 months from a complete application to a first decision, then verification before you can pay to register.
• A referral to a test of competence adds time: you have 12 months to take it and receive the outcome by email within two weeks.
• NHS psychology posts often run lengthy recruitment and pre-employment checks, so start applying for Band 7 posts once you have a positive HCPC decision.
• Shared HCPC and visa processing times are listed on our HCPC regulator page and UK country guide.

NHS Health Careers says trainee clinical psychologists are paid at Band 6 during the doctorate and qualified clinical psychologists start at Band 7, with routes to supervisory, management and consultant psychologist roles. Figures are NHS Employers 2026/27 Agenda for Change annual pay points for England from 1 April 2026. Banding of senior psychology posts is set by each employer, and educational psychologists employed by councils are not on Agenda for Change.

• Band 7 (newly qualified clinical psychologist)

  £49,387 to £56,515

• Band 8a (clinical psychologist)

  £57,528 to £64,750

• Band 8b (senior or principal psychologist)

  £66,582 to £77,368

• Band 8c (consultant or lead psychologist)

  £79,504 to £91,609

• Band 6 (UK trainee clinical psychologist, for reference)

  £39,959 to £48,117

  UK doctoral trainees; overseas-qualified psychologists apply for qualified posts once registered.

See your NHS band and annual pay

• NHS mental health trusts: adult community mental health teams, child and adolescent services, older adult and learning disability services.
• NHS talking therapies services and psychological services in physical health, such as pain, cardiac, diabetes and oncology (health and clinical psychologists).
• Forensic and secure services, including NHS secure hospitals and prison healthcare (forensic and clinical psychologists).
• Local authority educational psychology services and schools (educational psychologists; check the visa route).
• Occupational and sport and exercise psychology roles, which are mostly outside the NHS and may need the Skilled Worker visa.
• Independent and third-sector providers, some of which deliver NHS-funded care.

• Clinical psychologists use occupation code 2225. Counselling, educational, forensic, health, occupational and sport psychologists fall under 2226, other psychologists. GOV.UK lists both on the Health and Care Worker visa eligible occupations.
• Psychotherapists and cognitive behaviour therapists are a separate code, 2224. Your certificate of sponsorship should carry 2225 or 2226 if you are employed as an HCPC-registered psychologist.
• The Health and Care Worker visa needs a sponsor that is the NHS, an NHS service provider or an adult social care provider. Clinical, health and forensic psychologists in the NHS usually fit; educational psychologists in councils and occupational or sport psychologists in private firms often need the Skilled Worker visa instead.
• The salary test uses the going rate for your NHS band, so a Band 7 clinical psychologist post sits well above the general threshold; the employer confirms this on the certificate of sponsorship.
• Visa fees, the surcharge exemption, CEFR B2 English, maintenance funds and dependants work the same as for any health professional: see our UK country guide, and our HCPC regulator page for the registration route itself.

1. 1

   A DHA, DOH, MOHAP, SCFHS, QCHP or other GCC psychologist licence does not transfer. The HCPC looks at the qualification that first let you practise, then at your experience in the domain you choose.

2. 2

   Gulf licensing commonly accepts a master's in clinical psychology plus supervised hours. Because UK clinical psychology is doctoral, use your Gulf caseload to evidence formulation, risk assessment and evidence-based therapy in detail.

3. 3

   Much Gulf practice is in Arabic or bilingual. Explain the assessments and interventions you used and how you adapted them, since assessors judge against UK practice in English.

4. 4

   If you were licensed in the Gulf as a counsellor or psychotherapist rather than a psychologist, check that your degree is in psychology before applying as a practitioner psychologist.

5. 5

   GCC countries are not on the HCPC English-speaking list and Gulf OET results do not count for psychologists, so book IELTS or TOEFL iBT.

6. 6

   Declare every GCC registration, request letters of good standing, and ask your Gulf head of psychology to act as referee from a hospital email before you leave.

• 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