Reference · registration · Checked 3 September 2026
How to check an NMC PIN, and what a lapsed one means for prescribing
The Nursing and Midwifery Council register is public and free to search. Checking it takes three minutes. What most clinics get wrong is not the check but the interval: a registration can lapse mid-year, and an annual check will not see it.
The three-minute check
- Open the NMC's Search the register service.
- Enter the PIN if you have it. The format is two digits, a letter, four digits and a letter, for example 01A2345N. A PIN search is an exact match; a name search can return several people.
- Read the entry: registration status, the part of the register (nurse, midwife, nursing associate, specialist community public health nurse), recorded qualifications and annotations, the registration expiry date, and any published fitness-to-practise outcome.
- Record the date, the result and who checked. A check that is not written down did not happen, as far as an inspector is concerned.
What the entry tells you
| Line on the entry | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Registration status | Whether the person is currently entitled to practise. Lapsed, suspended and struck-off registrants are not. | Anything other than a current registration: stop prescribing and treating under that person until it is resolved. |
| Part of the register | Nurse, midwife, nursing associate or SCPHN. | Confirm the part matches the role the person holds in your clinic. |
| Recorded qualifications and annotations | Includes prescribing annotations. Without a prescribing annotation the registrant cannot prescribe, whatever else they can do. | Check the annotation before relying on someone as your prescriber. |
| Expiry date | Registration renews annually and revalidates every three years. | Diary the date; re-check well before it. |
| Fitness-to-practise outcome | Conditions of practice, cautions, suspensions and striking-off orders are published. | Read any conditions in full; they may restrict exactly what you need the person to do. |
What a lapse means in an aesthetics clinic
A registrant whose registration has lapsed is not entitled to practise as a nurse or midwife and cannot prescribe. In an aesthetics clinic that reaches further than one person: every appointment that depends on that prescriber's face-to-face consultation and prescription is affected, and since 1 June 2025 the NMC requires that consultation to be face-to-face before a first remote prescription for aesthetic treatments. Employers are expected to confirm registration before someone starts work, and the sensible standard is to keep confirming it.
JCCP and other registers
The Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners runs a voluntary practitioner register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. It is useful evidence of standards, but it is not a substitute for the statutory register: check the NMC, GMC, GPhC or GDC entry first, and the JCCP entry second.
General information, not legal or clinical advice. Register mechanics are re-checked quarterly at the stamp above; if the NMC changes its service, this page changes.
Questions
Is the NMC register public?
Yes. Anyone can search it by name or PIN and see registration status, the part of the register, qualifications and published fitness-to-practise outcomes.
How often should a clinic check?
Before someone starts, and then on a schedule short enough to catch a mid-year lapse. Appointbox does it every 24 hours automatically; if you check by hand, monthly is the minimum that makes sense.
Can a nurse without a prescribing annotation administer botulinum toxin?
Administration under a valid prescription from a prescriber who has consulted the patient face-to-face is a matter for the prescriber's judgement and the clinic's governance. What the register settles is narrower: without a prescribing annotation, the nurse cannot prescribe.
Keep reading: For aesthetic nurse prescribers · Prescribing evidence · UK aesthetics regulation guide