The standards of education and training are designed to make sure that learners are prepared for safe and effective practice
Following a comprehensive review and our formal consultation, the revised standards of education and training have now been published. They are effective from September 2027.
The standards of education and training (SETs) help to protect the public by ensuring the quality of education and training programmes for the 15 health and care professions that we regulate.
They make sure that future health and care professionals trained in the UK, have the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to deliver safe and effective care.
Anyone completing an education and training programme that meets these standards will be eligible to apply to join our Register and practise in the UK.
Following a comprehensive review and a formal consultation launched at the end of last year, we have revised the standards.
The revised standards will come into effect from September 2027. You can also access a Welsh translation of the revised standards.
Implementation support
We recognise that education providers will need time to review and implement the changes.
To support this work, we will be publishing detailed implementation guidance at the end of September 2026.
Alongside the guidance, we will share details of webinars which will provide practical information about the standards, our expectations and how education providers can demonstrate compliance.
What are the main changes?
While the revised standards introduce some changes, it is important to note that our overall approach remains the same. The standards are outcome focused rather than prescriptive, which means education providers continue to have flexibility in how they design and deliver their programmes, provided they meet our requirements.
This review focused on the standards of education and training only. No changes were made to the standards of conduct, performance and ethics, or the standards of proficiency.
The revised standards include a number of important changes:
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We have reorganised the standards to make them easier to navigate and apply. The new structure clearly distinguishes between requirements at institution and programme levels, helping education providers understand what is required and how we will assess education providers and programmes against the standards.
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The revised standards strengthen expectations around equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). Education providers will now need to embed EDI principles across their strategies and policies and demonstrate how these are implemented, monitored and reviewed to support positive experiences and outcomes for learners and others involved in programmes.
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The revised standards reflect the increasing role of technology, such as AI, in education and professional practice. Education providers will need to ensure that technology is used appropriately, ethically and effectively in learning, teaching and assessment. They will also need to keep up-to-date with relevant developments and technologies used in their profession, as well in education.
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The revised standards strengthen expectations across all learning environments, from classroom-based, through to practice-based and remote learning settings. These changes make clear that learners should receive a safe, effective and high-quality educational experience regardless of how their programme is delivered.
To view a full list of changes and why we have made them, you can take a look at our standards of education and training comparison document.
Consultation
We actively sought feedback from our stakeholders at each step of the review and consultation, working closely with education providers and learners through to professional bodies, unions, employers and service users.
This valuable feedback has helped to shape the standards and support high-quality education, prepare learners for evolving professional practice and strengthen public protection.
Our consultation response document sets out our analysis and response to the feedback we received.
Frequently asked questions and answers
We’ve included some of the more frequently asked questions and answers below. If you have any further queries, please feel free to contact your national/regional lead from our Education team.
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The revised standards will come into effect in September 2027. All education providers and approved programmes are required to meet the revised standards from that date.
The academic year 2026-27 will be a transition period to support implementation, which means that you will not be asked to demonstrate compliance during this time.
However, by November 2027, all providers must submit a declaration that they have considered the revised standards and made changes where needed, in order to meet the requirements in the 2027-28 academic year.
We will assess compliance on a phased basis over three academic years from 2027-28. This phased approach relates only to when we carry out our checks and does not change the requirement for all education providers and programmes to meet the revised standards from September 2027.
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No, academic levels are not being removed from the standards. Our requirements for academic levels to both join the Register and relating to this standard remain the same.
We have reworded standard 7.1 (previously SET 1) to clarify the application of the standard, especially in view of the increasingly varied models of delivery across health and care education and training. This standard continues to provide education providers with a degree of flexibility, while also continuing to ensure public protection.
Our standards are designed to assure the quality of education and training that learners receive through approved programmes, rather than to prescribe the level of qualification.
We have changed this standard to link it more clearly to the expected outcome - that the academic level of the programme enables learners to meet the standards of proficiency and the standards of conduct performance and ethics after completing an approved programme.
We have moved the list of normally expected qualifications from the body of the text, into an appendix, so the standard can be interpreted more clearly.
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No, the standards of proficiency and the standards of conduct, performance and ethics have not changed since our last review of these sets of standards.
The standards of education and training are to make sure that any learner who has completed one of our approved programmes is able to meet both of these sets of standards.
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We have revised the standards so that they take a more active and directive approach to EDI issues. We have embedded EDI throughout the standards so that rather than being treated as a standalone issue, it is embedded through the design, delivery, and culture of each programme.
One of the ways we’ve done this is by moving one of the standards from programme level to institution level. This requires education providers to embed EDI considerations across all settings, allowing for a more consistent approach. We have also kept a standard at programme level to make sure that policies and strategies at programme level are also reviewed and inclusive.
Beyond this, we have updated the new introduction to the standards to reflect expectations of education providers in relation to fairness and inclusive practice.
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With an increasing variety of delivery models, we want to make sure that learners receive a fair and high-quality education experience, regardless of their route into the profession.
So, rather than create separate standards for specific models of learning, our revised standards apply equally across traditional or non-traditional programmes.
The requirements are applicable across all contexts, supported by guidance and examples where needed.
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We have reorganised the standards to make them easier to navigate and apply. The new structure clearly distinguishes between requirements at institution and programme levels, helping education providers understand what is required and how we will assess education providers and programmes against the standards.
We have also reorganised the standards into new themes and groupings to better reflect the way programmes are developed and delivered.
In addition, we have introduced a new foreword to the standards to help education providers interpret and apply them. The glossary has also been updated to reflect the changes to the standards.
The standards remain outcome focused rather than prescriptive, which means education providers continue to have flexibility in how they design and deliver their programmes, provided they meet our requirements.
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We have added new standards that specifically relate to technology and the use of technology (such as AI) on approved programmes to make sure it's used in an ethical, considered and effective way.
We have deliberately not named any technologies in our standards to make sure they are future focused and flexible for education providers, different models of learning, and all of our registered professions.
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We will undertake a three phased compliance exercise with education providers, requiring the following:
- A declaration that they have reviewed and made required changes to meet the revised SETs (September-November 2027)
- An updated institution baseline document, that describes at a high level how the institution level SETs are met (within the 2027-28 academic year)
- A full compliance assessment within the three academic years from 2027-28
