HCPC – Changes concerning the emergency amendments to our rules under the Health Professions Order 2001

HCPC conducted a survey between August and September 2020, seeking views on emergency amendments to their Rules under the Health Professions Order 2001 that govern key processes and procedures in their Fitness to Practise and Registrations Appeals functions. The proposed changes to their Rules was sought to formalise adaptations to processes and procedures that HCPC has been operating during the pandemic.

One of the amendments to the Rules is a permanent change that would give HCPC the provision to serve notice and send documents electronically, to the email address provided to the HCPC by the relevant party. The HCPC would still retain the provision to serve notice and documents by post, which exists in current legislation. In the current legislation, documents and correspondence sent by post are considered to have been sent on the day of postage.

It has come to HCPC’s attention that the provision that posted documents are considered sent on the day of postage has been omitted from the amended Rules in error.  HCPC is therefore notifying you that a further provision will be included in their amended Rules to rectify that error. The additional provision sets out that all communications to be sent for the purposes of the amended Rules shall be treated as having been sent on the day that it was posted or sent by electronic email.

If you have any comments on the proposed additional amendment to our Rules regarding the date posted or email items are considered sent, please submit your comments to consultation@hcpc-uk.org by close of business on Tuesday 9 February. Please note that HCPC do not normally accept responses by telephone or in person. However, if you are unable to respond in this way please contact us at consultation@hcpc-uk.org to discuss any reasonable adjustments which would help you to respond.