The Nursing and Midwifery Council is preparing the first major refresh of revalidation in more than a decade. This is not a new process overnight. It is a formal review, backed by Council, moving into a public consultation so nurses, midwives, nursing associates, employers and the public can shape what comes next.
On 21 July 2026, the NMC Council approved a joint public consultation on a revised Code and an updated revalidation process. The regulator's own news release is here: NMC to launch landmark consultation on new Code and Revalidation process. The detailed proposals sit in the open Council papers for that meeting: Open Council Meeting 21 July 2026 (PDF, item on the Code and Revalidation review).
Important: until any new standards go live, the current revalidation requirements still apply. Use MyNMC, the current NMC forms, and the existing guidance in How to revalidate with the NMC. ReflectRN is independent of the Nursing and Midwifery Council and does not set or change NMC rules.
Why the Nursing and Midwifery Council is reviewing revalidation
Revalidation launched in 2016. The Code last had a major restructuring in 2015. In Council papers, the NMC says both tools need to reflect today's health and social care landscape, including equality and inclusion, learning from public inquiries, digital practice and artificial intelligence, and the breadth of roles across the register.
Discovery work has been running since summer 2025. That has included an independent steering group, advisory groups, employer workshops, qualitative research with groups who can find revalidation harder, and a survey with 13,757 valid responses. The NMC's overview page for the programme is Code and revalidation reviews.
The Council paper is clear on tone: revalidation is already well established, and the regulator is not proposing a revolution. The stated aim is an evolution that makes the process more robust, meaningful and accessible.
Key proposed changes to NMC revalidation
These points come from the July 2026 Council paper (NMC/26/202) and the NMC's public summary after Council approval. They are proposals for consultation, not final rules.
1. A clearer vision for revalidation
The NMC wants a refreshed vision that explains the purpose of revalidation more clearly for professionals and for people who use services. That sits alongside a stronger link between revalidation and the new Code and Standards of Proficiency, including themes in contemporary practice.
2. A stronger role for confirmers and reflective discussion partners
The Council paper proposes making revalidation more robust through an increased role for confirmers and reflective discussion partners, tested via a pilot and supported by updated guidance.
On confirmers specifically, the NMC intends to set out more clearly that confirmers should usually be line managers. If a registrant proposes someone else, they would tick a box from a menu of authorised departures from that expectation. The paper also signals a new and similar expectation about the seniority of the confirmer.
What the NMC says it is not consulting on: always mandating that the confirmer must be a line manager, or introducing a Responsible Officer model.
3. Stronger practice-related feedback
The optional feedback template would become a mandatory form, focused on what you learned and how practice improved after the feedback. That is a practical change many nurses will feel in day-to-day portfolio work if it is adopted.
4. Fairer, larger verification sampling
Verification (the NMC's audit of a sample of revalidation applications) would be refreshed by:
doubling the number of professionals selected; and
moving to a fully random verification sample.
Today, sampling can focus more on people without a regular appraisal or an NMC-registered line manager. The Council paper says a fully random sample should be fairer and stop over-selection of certain groups.
5. Twelve-week automatic extensions for valid reasons
To improve access, the NMC proposes moving to 12-week automatic extensions for professionals with valid reasons, such as ill health, parental leave or bereavement. That would sit alongside more tailored support for different roles and scopes of practice.
Current support information is still useful while you wait for consultation detail: Support to help you revalidate (PDF).
6. Better fit for different scopes of practice
Proposals also include helping professionals supply evidence that matches their scope of practice, giving people with NMC post-registration qualifications clearer ways to embed those qualifications in requirements, and aligning Test of Competence practice-hours rules with more recent Standards for Readmission.
What the NMC says it will not consult on
The Council paper is usefully explicit. The NMC does not intend to consult on:
reducing the revalidation requirements;
introducing an NMC online portfolio;
mandating that the confirmer must always be a line manager; or
developing a Responsible Officer model.
Separately, some implementation ideas are planned as supporting work rather than formal consultation questions. Those include earlier opening of the application window, guidance on appropriate use of AI and digital tools in revalidation, supporting information on reflecting on professional wellbeing, a refreshed employers' guide, and clearer links between revalidation and appraisal where a manager exists.
Linked proposals for The Code
Revalidation and the Code are being reviewed together. The consultation is also expected to cover a draft Code with stronger expectations on anti-discrimination and anti-racism, safeguarding and public protection, working cultures and wellbeing, professional behaviour in and outside practice, safe use of digital technology and AI, and public health and health inequalities.
Supporting guidance under discussion includes duty of candour, raising concerns, professionalism in public and private life (expanding current social media guidance), delegation, prescribing, and use of technologies including AI. Full draft wording will sit in the consultation pack when it opens.
Timeline from the Nursing and Midwifery Council
Dates below are from NMC Council papers and NMC news. Treat them as the regulator's planned programme, which can still shift.
24 September 2026: planned launch of a 12-week public consultation (running into December 2026).
December 2026 to March 2027: analysis of consultation responses.
May 2027: full report to Council on findings, likely direction of travel and implementation planning.
October 2027: intended launch of the updated Code (subject to Council approval).
From April 2028: revalidation updates begin to go live, with lead-in time for the first cohort affected by any new requirements.
For live programme updates and chances to get involved, start with the NMC's Code and revalidation reviews page and its community of interest sign-up.
What this means for you now
Keep meeting the current requirements. Do not pause CPD, reflective accounts, feedback or practice hours because a consultation is coming. The safest approach is:
Know your revalidation application date in MyNMC.
Keep collecting evidence across the three-year cycle.
Read the consultation documents when they open and respond if you can, especially if you confirm others, work in social care or independent practice, or have found extensions or verification confusing.
Watch for NMC guidance on confirmers, feedback forms and AI once drafts are published.
If you want a clear walkthrough of today's rules, see our guide to NMC revalidation requirements, plus how to reflect as a registered nurse.
How ReflectRN can help while the rules evolve
ReflectRN helps you organise feedback, CPD, practice hours and reflections in one place so you are ready for the process you have today, and less rushed if requirements become more structured later. It is not an NMC product, it is not an NMC online portfolio, and your renewal still happens through MyNMC using official NMC forms.
