Professional Standards Authority

What Professional Standards Authority does

The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) is the UK's independent statutory oversight body that protects the public by overseeing the regulation and registration of people working in health and social care. It oversees 10 statutory healthcare professional regulators — including the General Medical Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, Health and Care Professions Council, and General Osteopathic Council — and accredits 28 voluntary registers covering more than 2 million practitioners not regulated by law. The PSA reports directly to the UK Parliament and has statutory powers to audit regulator performance and appeal fitness to practise decisions to the courts.

Its core products are regulatory rather than software-based. They include the new combined Standards for Regulators and Accredited Registers (effective 1 July 2026), the Right-touch regulation methodology (updated 2025), annual Performance Reviews of the 10 regulators, the public-facing Check a Practitioner verification service, the Accredited Registers Programme, Fitness to Practise appeals, and a Publications Hub for research and policy advice. Technology is a website-based platform with practitioner lookup, publications repository, and newsletter distribution — there is no proprietary software product or API.

The PSA is funded by statutory annual fees paid by the 10 regulators (subscription, mandated by law), not-for-profit accreditation fees from 28 voluntary registers (subscription), and commissioned consultancy services provided to UK and overseas governments on regulatory reform. Annual budget is usually under £4 million, with a headcount of approximately 50 staff. Recent strategic direction is set by the Strategic Plan 2026-29, which prioritises preventative regulation and is accompanied by updated guidance on new statutory powers arising from legislative reform.

Name

Professional Standards Authority

Legal name

Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care

Website

https://professionalstandards.org.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Professional Standards Authority is the UK's independent statutory oversight body overseeing 10 healthcare professional regulators and accrediting 28 voluntary registers covering over 2 million practitioners, funded by statutory fees and reporting to Parliament.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Regulation Oversight

NAICS

Regulation, Licensing, and Inspection of Miscellaneous Commercial Sectors (92615), Public Administration (92), Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support (921)

akta.pro primary industry

Medical Professional Standards & Scope-of-Practice Regulators (HLAJACAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Healthcare Licensing, Accreditation & Credentialing Boards (HLAJACAC), Healthcare Quality & Patient Safety Regulators (HLAJACAD)

Keywords

• Healthcare regulation oversight
• Professional standards
• Regulatory accreditation
• Fitness to practise
• Regulatory performance reviews

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Statutory regulator fees: The 10 UK health professional regulators are each required by law to pay the PSA an annual fee.
2. Accredited Register fees: Not-for-profit fees charged to accredited registers for accreditation services.
3. Commissioned consultancy services: Governments and other bodies commission the PSA to provide advice and expertise on regulation matters.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Professional Standards Authority oversees 10 UK statutory health and social care regulators and accredits 28 voluntary registers covering more than 2 million practitioners. It sets standards of good regulation, conducts annual performance reviews of the regulators, accredits voluntary registers, and operates Section 29 Fitness to Practise appeal powers to challenge inadequate regulator decisions. The PSA also publishes research, guidance, and policy papers, and provides commissioned consultancy on healthcare regulation to governments.

Product overview

The Professional Standards Authority operates as a regulatory oversight body rather than a commercial product company. Its core offerings consist of regulatory frameworks, standards, and services: the Standards for Regulators and Accredited Registers (2026) provides a unified standards framework; Right-touch regulation is its foundational regulatory methodology; the Check a Practitioner service enables public verification of practitioner registration; Performance Reviews assess regulator compliance; the Accredited Registers Programme accredits voluntary registers; Fitness to Practise Appeals provides legal challenge mechanisms; and the Publications Hub disseminates research and guidance. Services are delivered through its website and direct regulatory engagement rather than a software platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Standards for Regulators and Accredited Registers (2026) Unified standards framework covering both professional healthcare regulators and Accredited Registers. Sets expectations for patient safety, public protection, governance, risk-based regulation, and professional suitability.
• Right-touch regulation Principles-based regulatory methodology that assesses the level of risk of harm and determines the most proportionate and effective response. Includes principles of proportionality, consistency, targeting, transparency, accountability, and agility.
• Check a Practitioner Public service allowing individuals to verify the registration status of healthcare and care practitioners across statutory regulators and Accredited Registers. Supports checking of over 100 practitioner types.
• Performance Reviews Annual assessment of regulator performance against the Standards of Good Regulation. Includes periodic reviews and monitoring reports for the 10 healthcare professional regulators overseen by the PSA.
• Accredited Registers Programme Voluntary accreditation programme for organisations holding registers of health and care practitioners not regulated by law. Currently accredits 28 voluntary registers covering more than 2 million practitioners.
• Fitness to Practise Appeals Section 29 appeal powers allowing the PSA to challenge fitness to practise decisions made by regulators' final panels. Appeals can be made to the courts if sanctions are insufficient for public protection.
• Publications Hub Central repository containing research reports, policy papers, guidance documents, discussion papers, and corporate reports covering health and social care regulation topics.
• Right-touch assurance Methodology for assessing and assuring occupational risk of harm. Used to evaluate different health and care occupations and determine the appropriate regulatory approach.
• Consultancy and Expertise Services Commissioned consultancy services provided to governments and stakeholders in the UK and internationally, sharing regulatory expertise and insights on healthcare regulation reform.

Quantifiable outcome

• Oversees 10 regulators protecting public interest in healthcare regulation
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Patients AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 March 2026The PSA worked with the Patients Association to gather the views of patients/service users in developing the updated combined Standards for regulators and Accredited Registers published in March 2026. This collaboration ensured patient and public perspectives were incorporated into the standards framework.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC): HCPC regulates 15 health and care professions (367,535 professionals as of March 2026) and is itself one of the 10 statutory regulators overseen by PSA. It is directly comparable in mission, professional-register model, and fitness-to-practise architecture, making it both a customer of PSA and a functional peer in operating professional regulation.
• Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC): The NMC regulates nurses and midwives in the UK (867,265 professionals as of December 2025) and is one of PSA's 10 overseen regulators. Comparable in scope scale, fitness-to-practise apparatus, and reform agenda, it is both a major fee-paying customer and a functional peer in healthcare professional regulation.
• General Medical Council (GMC): The GMC is the UK's statutory regulator of doctors and one of PSA's 10 overseen regulators. It is comparable to PSA in operating a large professional register (the largest UK healthcare register), publishing performance and fitness-to-practise data, and being subject to PSA's annual performance review framework.
• Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA): AHPRA supports the 15 National Boards that regulate Australia's health professions and works closely with the Australian Health Workforce Advisory Council on cross-profession oversight. It is the closest international peer to PSA in terms of operating an umbrella framework that sets shared standards and accredits practitioner registers across multiple professions.

Others

• Charity Commission for England and Wales: The Charity Commission is an independent, non-ministerial UK government department that regulates registered charities. It is comparable to PSA as a UK arm's-length regulatory oversight body with statutory powers, public-protection mandate, and direct accountability to Parliament, although the regulated population (charities) and substantive domain are very different.

Emerging players

• The Joint Commission: The Joint Commission is the largest US healthcare accreditation body, accrediting and certifying healthcare organisations across the continuum of care. It is comparable to PSA in operating an accreditation and standards regime with public-protection framing, though its primary unit of accreditation is the provider organisation rather than the individual practitioner or regulator.

Regional players

• Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC): The SSSC is the Scottish regulator for the social services workforce, with its own registration, fitness-to-practise, and codes-of-practice functions. It is structurally similar to the bodies PSA oversees in England and is a relevant regional peer in the devolved UK regulatory landscape where PSA's remit is largely England-and-UK-wide for health professions only.

Broad incumbents

• Health and Safety Executive (HSE): HSE is the UK regulator for workplace health and safety with statutory enforcement and inspection powers. While its substantive domain is different from PSA's, it shares the model of an independent, Parliament-reporting UK regulator with a right-touch/proportionate enforcement philosophy, making it a structural analogue rather than a direct competitor.
• Ofsted: Ofsted is the UK inspectorate for education and children's services, with statutory inspection powers and public reporting. While it operates in a different sector, Ofsted is a directly comparable model of an independent UK public body that sets sector-wide standards, conducts performance reviews, and publishes public ratings for assurance.
• Care Quality Commission: The CQC is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. Like PSA, it is an arm's-length UK government body with statutory inspection and rating powers, public-protection mandate, and reporting lines to Parliament, making it a structural analogue of PSA's meta-regulatory function but at the provider rather than practitioner level.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/prof_standards
• Facebookfacebook.com/ProfessionalStandardsAuthority
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/professional-standards-authority

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Professional Standards Authority