Frequently Asked Questions

In order to be eligible to be admitted to the CNHC Register, a complementary therapist must:

  • Have undertaken a programme of education and training which meets, as a minimum, the National Occupational Standards (see below) and the core curriculum for the complementary therapy/discipline concerned. Please note, courses delivered entirely by distance learning do not meet CNHC requirements.

or

  • Have achieved competency to the level of the National Occupational Standards (see below) for the complementary therapy/discipline concerned by means of relevant experience of at least three years and relevant training and been assessed as having met those standards.

We have a list of courses that meet the CNHC registration criteria for some of the professions we register click here for further information

Where we do not have a published list of courses please check with your training provider directly or contact one of the relevant CNHC Verifying Organisations

The registration fee is £70 for the first discipline. The fee for additional disciplines is £10 per discipline (to a maximum of four, after which it is free). See CNHC Fee Schedule

We register complementary health practitioners from the following eighteen professions:

Alexander Technique teaching; Aromatherapy; Bowen Therapy; Craniosacral Therapy; Healing; Hypnotherapy; Kinesiology, Massage Therapy; Microsystems Acupuncture; Naturopathy; Nutritional Therapy; Reflexology; Reiki; Shiatsu; Sports Massage; Sports Therapy; Yoga Therapy

You can find a practitioner on the CNHC Register in a number of ways:
  • You can search for a particular complementary health practitioner, using their name, town/city or postcode
  • You can narrow your search by selecting a profession
  • You can find a local complementary health practitioner in a particular town/city or postcode area and select how many miles from there that you want to search.

Renewal is a simple online process. Just login to MyCNHC, click renew and follow the online steps. You can then pay the renewal fee online. If you wish to pay over the phone then just click 'Pay by Phone' when you get to the payments step.

The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) is the independent government-appointed body that oversees and scrutinises the work of the nine statutory medical, health and care regulators. These include the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC).

Since March 2012 the Professional Standards Authority has also been able to accredit registers of health and care occupations that are not regulated by law and CNHC has successfully completed this process.

No the PSA does not accredit individual practitioners. It accredits organisations. All practitioners on CNHC’s register can say that they are on CNHC’s Accredited Register. No additional steps are necessary. All new registrants will also automatically be included on the Accredited Register.

There are many differences between the roles of CNHC and Professional Associations.

CNHC was established with Government support to act in the public interest whereas Professional Associations act in the interests of their members, to whom they provide invaluable services and support.

CNHC works with a number of organisations that check the details of practitioners’ training, insurance and experience and confirms whether they are eligible for CNHC registration. See our How to apply for details.

Choosing to register with CNHC brings a wide range of benefits - but most importantly shows to the public that you uphold high standards of practice in your work. Being registered builds trust with your clients, health providers and the public by demonstrating that you “Stand up for Standards.”

There are many professional advantages for registering with CNHC Click here for details

If you wish to add a discipline to your CNHC registration you need to be verified for that new discipline. You also need to ensure your existing registration is up to date. If your existing registration is due to expire soon you will need to renew before adding a discipline. Click here for details

CNHC works with a number of organisations that checks the details of practitioners’ even if they don't belong to a professional association. Please click here for the details. 

Before CNHC can consider adding a new category to the Register, we have to seek agreement from the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) that the occupation meets the criteria as set out in section 228 of the NHS and Social Care Act 2012. The PSA may need detailed information about the new category and its use in the UK before they can express a view about its acceptability as a discrete occupation.

If the PSA agrees that the occupation meets the criteria, the next issue is whether there are specific National Occupational Standards or relevant regulated qualifications for the occupation.  If there are neither, then the sector would need to be able to fund a project with the Sector Skills Council, Skills for Health, to develop the National Occupational Standard.

If there are regulated qualifications, or when the new National Occupational Standards have been published in the UK National Framework, the first step in seeking CNHC agreement to open a new category on the register would be the submission of a business case addressing the following questions:

  1. Why does the sector want CNHC to open the Register to this category as a discrete category?
  2. How many practitioners might register if this category is added to the CNHC Register?
  3. What will the sector do to make this happen?
  4. What are the key contextual factors (e.g. is the new category a well established/growing profession – with data to support this)

If the business case is accepted by the CNHC Board, then as the final step, the sector would be asked to make a detailed submission that satisfies CNHC’s requirements as set out in our Aspirant Professions Criteria