Conduct & Competence Panels

Conduct and Competence panels are held in public. They are adversarial in nature and follow accepted procedures for the examination of evidence.

A CNHC Case Manager will gather as much evidence as possible, including witness statements from the Complainant and other relevant parties.

The Registrant will be invited to obtain written evidence and witness statements which they wish to rely on at the hearing.

At the hearing both sides will have the opportunity to provide evidence and call witnesses.

The Panel may decide:

• The case is not well-founded and is dismissed
  or
• The case is well-founded and each side will be invited to make representations before the Panel retires to decide what sanctions it will impose, if any.

The panel may decide to do nothing. However, if sanctions are appropriate, the Panel has the following options:

• To issue a Caution for a period between 1 and 3 years
• To issue a Restriction of Practice order for a period between 1 and 3 years
• To suspend the Registrant for a period up to two years
• To remove the Registrant from the Register.

Full details are contained in CNHC’s Complaints Procedure and Complaints Handling Process documents.