Applications

Ensuring the information you provide is true and your evidence is genuine

Because our primary role is to protect the public, we need to carry out a number of checks on your application and the evidence and information you send to us.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you provide to us as part of the registration process is true and the evidence you submit is genuine, whether you submit it yourself or through a third party.

In particular:

• Your evidence must be objective. This means it is issued by a third party, based on facts and not influenced by a relationship to you, other than professional or educational relationships. This is why we ask that your reference and medical report is not written by a patient, relative or employee
   
• The evidence you send to us must be verifiable so we can check it is genuine, if we so wish
   
• Evidence you provide in isolation or in combination with other evidence and information must clearly demonstrate that you meet the requirements for registration
   
• We may refuse your application for registration if:
  - you cannot provide evidence
  - your evidence does not clearly show you are of good character
  - your evidence does not clearly show you are physically and mentally fit
  - you do not meet the requirements for registration
  - you do not provide complete and truthful information
   
• If you have special or unusual circumstances we may ask you to provide some additional information or documents to support your application
   
• The application form includes a declaration that you must sign, to confirm you have answered the application form correctly. If it later comes to light that you have not been truthful with your application, the General Council may instruct the Registrar to remove your name from the register.

Your health

The GCC has a legal duty to ensure applicants are both physically and mentally fit before registration can be granted.  Anyone wishing to register as a chiropractor must be in good physical and mental health. To ensure that this is the case, the GCC asks all applicants to provide a medical report from their General Practitioner (GP) or Medical Director (MD) along with their application.

The GCC recommends you provide this medical report form for your GP or MD to complete. The form contains information and guidance for your GP or MD as well as a consent form. The consent form  can also be downloaded here.

Frequently asked questions

Who can provide a medical report?

Your medical report can only be provided by a GP or MD who is registered with the General Medical Council or an equivalent overseas regulatory body. The report cannot be provided by anyone who is related to you by either birth or marriage.

The medical practitioner must base the report on a review of the last four years’ of your medical records. If they do not have access to records covering that time period, they must conduct a physical examination .

What does the report have to contain?

The report must include the following: 

• Your full name
• Your date of birth
• The date the medical records that are used to prepare the report began
• Confirm you are physically and mentally fit
• If you have any physical or mental health problems and, if so, how these are being managed
• If you have had any physical or mental problems in the past that may recur
• Any other past medical history that the doctor feels is significant or appropriate for us to know about
• The date the report was written
• The GP’s signature (medical reports with signatories other than a GP/ MD will be rejected).

Who pays for the report?

Any costs incurred in providing the report must be met by you.

I have existing or past health conditions – will they prevent me from becoming a chiropractor?

Having a health condition is not in itself a reason for refusal of registration.

If we are satisfied that you are successfully managing a health condition by taking steps which will avoid any risk to patients and will ensure that you have the ability to perform your job safely, your application is unlikely to be turned down on medical grounds.

Therefore, if you have existing or pre-existing medical conditions, it is in your interests to provide us with as much information about your condition and how you are managing it as possible to allow us to make an accurate decision on your application.

What if my doctor is reluctant to make information available to you?  

We provide a consent form allowing your doctor to divulge information to us that you can find here. We treat all matters relating to your health in the strictest confidence.

Police cautions and criminal convictions

You must inform us if you have a police charge, caution or conviction that is not a protected caution or protected conviction. This applies to applicants for either initial registration or restoration to the register.

If you are a current registrant and need to inform us of a conviction or caution please find out what steps you need to take here.

Frequently asked questions

What do I need to declare when I apply for registration?

If you are applying for initial registration then you must tell us of any convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings that are not protected.

You do not need to declare fixed penalty fines for traffic offences unless they led to a disqualification.

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 does not apply to an application for registration to the register. This means that you must declare to us any convictions or police cautions that you have received, even if they are ‘spent’ under that Act, other than a protected caution or protected conviction (see question below). Failure to do so may result in a referral to fitness to practise which could lead to you being removed from the register

Further guidance on listed offences is provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

What are protected cautions and convictions?

A protected caution is protected from disclosure six years after it was accepted. If the offender was under 18 when the caution was accepted then that period is reduced to two years.

A protected conviction is protected from disclosure after 11 years. If the offender was under 18 when convicted then that period is reduced to five and a half years.

In either case a conviction will only be protected if the offender received a non-custodial sentence and has no other convictions.

A caution or conviction will NOT be protected if it is for a ‘listed offence’ under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. Listed offences include serious violent and sexual offences, and offences which are of specific relevance to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. A caution or conviction for a listed offence must always be disclosed to us.

You can find further information on the Unlock website.

What will happen if I tell you about an offence?

We consider having a caution, conviction, reprimand or warning as serious. However, it does not automatically preclude you from registration with the General Chiropractic Council.

We look at all applications on an individual basis. You are encouraged to provide as much information and documentation relating to the offence as possible. The Registrar will take this into account at the time the decision is made on whether or not you are considered of good character. The Registrar will also consider your own account of the circumstances that led to the offence, including any mitigating circumstances there may have been, so please provide a supporting statement with your application.

If you have committed an offence where alcohol or drugs are involved, the Registrar will ask you to attend a health assessment with a consultant psychiatrist. 

What happens if my application is refused?

If the Registrar decides to refuse your application, you will be informed of the process for appealing the decision through the Registration Appeals Committee. Our appeals process can be found here.