Become a Legal Assessor at the NMC
Thank you for your interest in this vitally important role at the NMC.
Our legal assessors are key to ensuring the decisions we make are fair, evidence-based and free from bias.
We’re looking for qualified legal professionals to join our Practice Committee panels.
We want to hear from people with at least ten years PQE who can demonstrate our values of fairness, kindness, ambition and collaboration, and who can meet competencies including professionalism and integrity, and a commitment to equality. If you think that’s you, or would like to find out more about what to expect, all the details you need should be found on this recruitment site.
We’re particularly keen to hear from people with protected characteristics, including professionals from ethnically diverse backgrounds, professionals with disabilities, and younger professionals.
What do legal assessors do?
As a legal assessor you will advise, steer, and correct the Practice Committee panels who make decisions in our Fitness to Practise (FtP) hearings in accordance with the law. You will also provide legal advice to the Registrar or Council on any questions arising in connection with fitness to practise matters. The Legal Assessor performs a critical role in ensuring panels act within the law and explain their reasoning in a clear well-reasoned decision.
Most of our legal assessors have other jobs outside the NMC – but we ask that you can commit at least 15 days a year to us.
Fitness to practise exists to keep people safe
Two aims guide all our fitness to practise work. The decisions our panels make are at the heart of helping us to achieve those aims.
- We want to see nurses, midwives and nursing associates who are fit to practise safely and professionally.
- And we want to nurture a professional culture within health and social care that values equality, diversity and inclusion, and prioritises openness and learning in the interests of patient safety.
So we’ll always take action if needed, but we also need our work to drive learning and improvement so care becomes better and safer for everyone.
We train and support our legal assessors
We offer legal assessors a day of induction training on appointment to the role, which includes exploring the role they play, understanding the fitness to practise or investigating committee, how to make high-quality decisions, witness care, and embedding equality and inclusion. We also offer one day of yearly refresher training based on recent learning themes and trends.
We keep panel members informed of important updates throughout the year via briefings, email communications, and coffee mornings.
All of that training, and the wider experience you get from your role as a legal assessor, is useful to bring back into other roles you have outside the NMC.