Specialist routes for specialist professions
Physiotherapy, radiography, biomedical science, occupational therapy, dietetics, speech and language therapy, paramedic practice. Each is assessed against its own standards. Generic advice does not serve any of them well.
Allied Health Professionals
Your regulators
What allied health professionals need to know
Allied health professions are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council in the UK and by CORU in Ireland. Both regulators protect professional titles: you cannot practise under a protected title, or in most cases be employed in the role at all, until you are on the register.
What makes these professions distinct is that assessment is profession-specific. The standards of proficiency for a radiographer are not the standards for a dietitian, and an application that reads as generic will attract requests for further information. Evidencing your training and clinical experience against the correct standards is the substance of a strong application.
Not sure this is you?
Professions overlap, and the regulator that covers your role is not always obvious, particularly across two countries. If you're unsure where you fit, describe your qualification and we'll tell you which route applies.
Ask about your professionThe route for allied health professionals
Each stage depends on the one before it. This is the order that keeps a timeline moving rather than stalling.
- 01
Profession and regulator check
Confirm which regulator covers your profession in your chosen country, and which registration board assesses it.
- 02
Qualification equivalence review
We assess how your training maps to the standards of proficiency for your specific profession before you apply.
- 03
Evidence preparation
Certificates, transcripts, clinical experience records and references, organised against the criteria your assessors will use.
- 04
Application and personal statement
Presenting your training and experience clearly against profession-specific standards, which is where most applications are won or lost.
- 05
Verification and regulator liaison
Qualification verification with your awarding institution, and responses to any further-information requests.
- 06
Placement and visa
With registration secured, we move into recruitment and support the visa or permit route that applies.
The things that catch people out
These are the details that most often add months to a timeline, and all of them are manageable if you know about them early.
Protected titles are legally enforced
Using a protected title without registration is an offence in both jurisdictions. Registration is not a formality. It is the precondition for practising.
Assessment is profession-specific
Each profession has its own standards of proficiency. Evidence has to be presented against yours, not against a general template.
Equivalence gaps can be addressed
If your training is not assessed as fully equivalent, regulators may request further evidence or a period of adaptation. That is a route, not a refusal.
The two registers differ
HCPC and CORU cover overlapping but not identical professions, and assess them differently. Confirm your profession is regulated where you intend to work.
Services for allied health professionals
The services most commonly needed on this route, in roughly the order they apply.
Allied Health Professionals: common questions
The HCPC regulates a range of allied health and science professions including physiotherapists, radiographers, biomedical scientists, occupational therapists, dietitians, speech and language therapists, operating department practitioners, practitioner psychologists, orthotists, prosthetists and paramedics. Check the current register for the definitive list, as the professions covered are reviewed over time.
Neither is straightforwardly easier. They are different. The requirements, evidence and assessment criteria vary by profession and by registration board, and a profession that is well served by one route may face a longer path through the other.
Regulators can request additional evidence, a period of adaptation, or further assessment. This is a normal part of the process for international applicants rather than a rejection, and we help you understand and respond to what is being asked.
Ready to talk through your route?
Tell us about your qualification and where you'd like to work. We'll map what's genuinely open to you as one of the allied health professionals we work with.