AC-2024-LON-003354 - [2025] EWHC 2270 (Admin)

On 13 March 2024, the 2024 Order was made pursuant to section 60(1)(b) of the Health Act 1999 (‘the 1999 Act’). It provided for the regulation of professions not already regulated under the 1983 Act or any other legislation. The relevant provisions came into force on 13 December 2024. Prior to the 2024 Order coming into force, there was no statutory regulation of associates.

Article 3 of the 2024 Order imposes a duty on the defendant to determine standards applicable to associates following consultation and also to keep those standards under review. It provides as follows:

“3 - Standards

(1)

The Regulator must determine standards applicable to associates.

(2)

The standards must relate to

(a)

education and training,

(b)

knowledge and skills,

(c)

experience and performance,

(d)

conduct and ethics,

(e)

proficiency in the English language, and

(f)

such other matters as the Regulator may prescribe in rules made under paragraph 2(2)(a) of Schedule 4.

(3)

Before determining a standard, the Regulator must consult such persons as the Regulator considers appropriate.

(4)

The Regulator –

(a)

must keep the standards under review, and

(b)

may vary or revoke a standard.”

Article 4(1) permits the defendant to approve education, training and qualifications for the purposes of enabling a person to attain the standards determined under art. 3(1).

Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the Order imposes new duties upon the defendant pertaining to associates which mirror those in s. 1 and para. 9A of Schedule 1 MA 1983:

Part 3 of the 2024 Order establishes an Associates register along the same lines as for doctors under the MA 1983. Article 7 requires the defendant to carry out a periodic assessment as to whether a registrant ‘continues to meet the standards determined under article 3(1)’. Article 8 enables the defendant to impose ‘conditions on the practice of such descriptions of associate as may be prescribed in rules [made under powers in Schedule 4]’.

Paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 3 to the 2024 Order obliges the defendant to publish, inter alia, standards determined under art. 3(1); a list of approvals given under art. 4(1); and guidance as to what amounts to impairment of fitness to practise. It is also under a duty to keep that guidance under review: paragraph 5(2). Paragraph 7 also imposes an evidence-gathering duty upon the defendant to ‘take such steps as it considers necessary for the purpose of assessing whether … standards determined under Article 3(1) are met at any point in time, or a person’s fitness to practise as an associate is impaired’.

Paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 provides that the defendant may prescribe rules setting out the standards for the purposes of art. 3(1), and a description of ‘associate’ for the purposes of art. 8.

Art. 2(2)(a) of the 2024 Order defines impairment of fitness to practise as ‘impairment by reason of – (i) inability to provide care to a sufficient standard, or (ii) misconduct’.