Professional Registration Fees Tax Relief: NMC, GMC, HCPC & GPhC

Every NHS clinical professional pays something to keep practising — a registration fee to a statutory regulator, in most cases, often alongside a subscription to a royal college or union. What's much less consistently understood is that a genuine amount of this is tax-deductible, and that the specific fee amounts change often enough that a guide written even a year or two ago can already be quoting stale figures. This guide sets out the current fee for each of the four main NHS regulators, explains the distinct but related question of professional body and union subscriptions, and walks through exactly how to claim relief on everything you pay personally. It isn't tax advice and isn't affiliated with HMRC, the NHS, or any of the regulators named below; for your own exact position and the most current fee figures, always check the regulator's own published fees page and HMRC's own guidance.

The general principle: fees required for your job are deductible

HMRC's underlying test for this relief is straightforward in principle, even though the specific figures attached to it vary by profession and change over time: if you're required to pay a fee or subscription in order to do your job, and that cost isn't reimbursed by your employer, you can generally claim tax relief on the amount you've actually paid. This covers two related but distinct categories that NHS staff often lump together without quite separating:

• • Statutory registration fees — the fee you pay to your professional regulator (NMC, GMC, HCPC, GPhC) simply to remain legally registered and licensed to practise your profession at all
• • Professional body and union subscriptions — membership fees to organisations like the RCN, BMA, or other royal colleges and unions, which are a separate, voluntary choice rather than a legal requirement to practise, but which can still qualify for relief if the specific organisation is on HMRC's approved list

Both types are claimed the same way, on the same form, but it's worth understanding the distinction because eligibility for the second category depends on the specific organisation, not on your profession generally. We cover registration fees first, then subscriptions.

Current registration fees by regulator

These figures were verified as current as of when this guide was last updated. Regulator fees change periodically — sometimes annually, sometimes after long freezes — so if you're reading this some time after the "last updated" date at the top of this page, it's worth a quick check of the regulator's own published fees page before relying on an exact figure for a claim.

NMC — Nursing and Midwifery Council

The NMC's main registration fee has been £120 a year for over a decade. The NMC Council has now approved its first fee increase in eleven years, raising the main registration fee to £143 a year — an increase of £1.92 a month — effective from 1 October 2026, subject to the usual parliamentary approval process that this kind of statutory fee change requires. Alongside the main fee rise, the NMC has also approved an increase to the initial registration fee for internationally qualified applicants (from £153 to £182), and a roughly 19.2% increase across various other registration-related fees, including qualification evaluation and additional-qualification fees.

• • If your registration renewal or annual fee payment fell before 1 October 2026, use the £120 figure for that portion of your claim
• • If it falls on or after that date, use £143
• • Covers nurses and midwives of all grades on the NMC register

GPhC — General Pharmaceutical Council

The GPhC has confirmed a 6% increase to its annual registration fees, effective from September 2026. For registered pharmacists, this takes the renewal fee up by £17 a year to £310. Pharmacy technician renewal fees rise by a smaller amount over the same change (roughly £8, to £146), and pharmacy premises fees rise separately too. The increase followed a formal consultation in which the large majority of respondents opposed it, but the GPhC Council proceeded on the basis that its workload and costs had "continued to significantly increase."

• • Applies to registered pharmacists claiming their own personal renewal fee, not the separate pharmacy premises fee, which is a business cost rather than a personal employment expense
• • Use the pre-September 2026 or post-September 2026 figure depending on when your specific renewal fell

GMC — General Medical Council

The GMC's standard annual retention fee for full registration with a licence to practise has risen from £406 to £408. Newly qualified doctors pay a discounted rate, which has risen from £156 to £157, and this discount continues to apply for several years after qualification before the standard fee kicks in. Separately, the GMC continues to offer a 50% discount on the annual fee for any doctor earning less than £32,000 a year — this specifically includes doctors on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, and those receiving sick pay, during periods their income falls under that threshold.

• • The 50% low-income discount isn't applied automatically — you generally need to confirm your eligibility with the GMC directly, so it's worth checking if your income in a relevant year was below £32,000
• • If you're a newly qualified doctor, check which discounted rate applied to you in the specific year you're claiming for, since it differs from the standard fee

HCPC — Health and Care Professions Council

HCPC registration — covering a wide range of allied health professionals and other regulated roles, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, paramedics, speech and language therapists, podiatrists and others — currently runs on a two-year renewal cycle costing £246.68 in total, which works out to roughly £123.34 a year if you want to compare it against an annual figure or split a claim across two tax years. Registrants paying by direct debit typically pay this in instalments across the two-year cycle rather than as a single lump sum.

The HCPC has proposed a further fee increase — to an annual-equivalent figure of around £128.40 — to be phased in from April 2027 onward, applied gradually across different professions according to when their individual renewal cycle falls. At the time this guide was last checked, this increase had not yet taken effect for most registrants. If your claim covers a renewal from April 2027 onward, check what you actually paid rather than assuming the current £123.34-a-year equivalent still applies.

• • Because HCPC renewal runs on a two-year cycle rather than annually, you may need to apportion or time your claim to match the specific tax year(s) your payment actually fell in
• • Check the HCPC's own current fees page for the exact figure and timing relevant to your specific profession's renewal cycle

Registration fee vs union/professional body membership: two different things

It's worth being precise about the distinction, because the eligibility test is genuinely different for each:

Because a professional body subscription isn't a legal requirement of the job in the same way a regulator fee is, HMRC doesn't treat all subscriptions as automatically deductible. Instead, relief is generally only available where the specific organisation is on HMRC's own approved list of professional organisations and learned societies — commonly referred to as "List 3."

Which professional bodies and unions qualify: HMRC's approved list

HMRC publishes and maintains a list of professional organisations and learned societies it has approved for this relief. Being a member of an organisation that genuinely helps you do your job doesn't automatically mean the subscription qualifies — it specifically has to be on this published list.

• ✓ The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is an established, approved body on this list — subscriptions are generally deductible for eligible members
• ✓ The British Medical Association (BMA) is similarly an established, approved body — the BMA itself actively signposts this to members and provides guidance on claiming
• ✓ Other royal colleges, unions (such as Unison or Unite) and professional bodies relevant to NHS staff may also be on the list, but coverage isn't universal — check HMRC's current published list directly for any organisation not named here rather than assuming it qualifies

Get notified when NMC, GMC, HCPC or GPhC fees change again

We'll email you when any of the major NHS regulators announce a fee change, so your claim always reflects the current figure.

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How much this is actually worth

Because this is an actual-cost claim rather than a flat rate, the value depends entirely on what you personally pay and your marginal tax rate. Some illustrative examples, based on the current figures set out above:

• ✓ A nurse paying the new £143 NMC fee at basic rate (20%) gets roughly £28.60 back for the year; at higher rate (40%), roughly £57.20
• ✓ A pharmacist paying the new £310 GPhC fee at basic rate gets roughly £62 back; at higher rate, roughly £124
• ✓ A doctor paying the £408 GMC fee at higher rate (a common tax band for many doctors) gets roughly £163.20 back; a newly qualified doctor on the £157 discounted rate at basic rate gets roughly £31.40
• ✓ An allied health professional paying £123.34 a year in HCPC fees at basic rate gets roughly £24.67 back annually
• ✓ Adding an approved professional body subscription (RCN, BMA, or similar) on top, at whatever that organisation charges, increases the total further, and can be claimed in the same submission

None of these figures alone sounds transformative, but combined — a registration fee, a professional body subscription, and the separate uniform laundering allowance covered in our uniform and laundry tax relief guide — the total genuinely adds up, especially once backdating is factored in.

How to claim: form P87

Relief on registration fees and approved subscriptions is claimed the same way as most other individual employment expenses — using form P87, either:

• • Online, through your personal tax account using your Government Gateway login — generally the faster route for most claims
• • By post, using the paper P87 form

Because this is an actual-cost claim rather than a flat rate, you'll need to know the exact amount you paid for each fee or subscription in the relevant tax year, and it's sensible to keep evidence of payment — a renewal confirmation, receipt, or bank statement entry — in case HMRC asks you to support the figures you've claimed. If your total employment expenses claim for a year (registration fees, subscriptions, uniform allowance and anything else combined) exceeds £2,500, you'll need to claim through Self Assessment instead of the P87 route for that year.

Backdating your claim

The same general four-year backdating rule that applies to other employment expense claims applies here too. If you've been paying a registration fee and an approved subscription for several years without ever claiming relief, a first-time claim submitted now can typically cover the current tax year plus the four before it. The main practical obstacle is usually evidence — you'll need to know, or be able to find, what you actually paid in each of those earlier years, which may mean checking old bank statements or contacting your regulator or professional body for historic payment records if you don't have them readily available.

Combining this with your uniform allowance claim

Because registration fees, subscriptions and the uniform laundering allowance are all claimed via the same P87 process, it's genuinely worth doing them together in a single claim rather than submitting them separately over time. See our NHS uniform and laundry tax relief guide for the £125 flat-rate allowance and the separate shoes and tights allowances that many clinical staff can claim alongside everything covered on this page.

Why you can rely on this page

• ✓ Every current fee figure quoted above — NMC, GPhC, GMC and HCPC — was checked against recent, dated announcements from the regulators themselves or specialist professional-sector reporting, not estimated or carried over from an older, potentially stale source
• ✓ We've been explicit about the difference between a statutory registration fee (a legal requirement to practise) and a professional body or union subscription (voluntary, and only deductible if the organisation is on HMRC's approved list)
• ✓ We don't claim to have independently confirmed every professional body an NHS reader might belong to is on HMRC's approved list — only that the RCN and BMA are well-established examples that are — and direct you to check the current list for anything else
• ✓ We flag clearly where a regulator has an increase due to take effect after this guide's last update, so you can check whether it's landed by the time you read this
• ✓ This guide is not affiliated with HMRC, the NHS, or the NMC, GMC, HCPC or GPhC, and isn't tax advice — for your own exact position and current fees, check each regulator's own published fees page and HMRC's guidance directly

This guide describes general HMRC rules on employment expense relief for professional registration fees and subscriptions, and current fee figures for the NMC, GMC, HCPC and GPhC as verified when last updated. Regulator fees change periodically — always check each regulator's own current published fees page. FrontlinePay is an independent site and is not affiliated with HMRC, the NHS, or any of the regulators or professional bodies named on this page — for your own exact position, check HMRC's current guidance or contact HMRC directly.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Is my statutory registration fee (NMC, GMC, HCPC, GPhC) automatically tax-deductible? +

Generally, yes — the underlying principle HMRC applies is that a fee you're legally required to pay to remain registered and practise in your regulated NHS profession is a genuine cost of doing your job, and is deductible. This applies across the main NHS regulators — the NMC for nurses and midwives, the GMC for doctors, the HCPC for a wide range of allied health professionals and other regulated roles, and the GPhC for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. It's a different mechanism from the flat-rate uniform allowance — you claim the actual amount you paid, not a fixed figure.

How much is the NMC fee right now, and is it changing? +

The main NMC registration fee has been £120 a year for over a decade, but the NMC Council approved its first increase in eleven years, raising it to £143 a year from 1 October 2026, subject to the usual parliamentary approval process for fee changes of this kind. If you're claiming relief on your NMC fee for a period spanning that change, use whichever amount you actually paid for the specific period your claim covers, since the two figures apply to different parts of the year.

What about the GPhC fee for pharmacists? +

The GPhC confirmed a 6% increase to its annual registration fee from September 2026, taking the pharmacist renewal fee up by £17 a year to £310. Pharmacy technician fees rose by a smaller amount over the same change. As with the NMC change, if your claim spans the point the new fee took effect, use the actual amount you paid before and after that date rather than a single blended figure.

What's the current GMC fee for doctors? +

The GMC's standard annual fee for full registration with a licence to practise is £408, following a small increase from £406, with newly qualified doctors paying a discounted rate that rose from £156 to £157. The GMC also offers a 50% discount on the annual fee for doctors earning under £32,000 a year, which includes doctors on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, and those receiving sick pay — worth checking if your income in the relevant year was below that threshold, since the discount isn't applied automatically without you confirming eligibility.

And the HCPC fee for allied health professionals? +

HCPC registration currently runs on a two-year renewal cycle costing £246.68 in total, which works out to roughly £123.34 a year if you're paying by instalment or want to compare it to an annual figure. The HCPC has proposed a further increase, to be phased in from April 2027 onward across different professions' renewal cycles, though this had not fully taken effect at the time this guide was last checked — if you're claiming for a period after April 2027, check the amount you actually paid for that specific renewal rather than relying on the current figure.

Is my RCN, BMA, or other professional body membership also tax-deductible, separately from my regulator fee? +

It can be, but not automatically — the professional body or union has to be on HMRC's approved list (commonly referred to as 'List 3') of professional organisations and learned societies for the subscription to qualify for relief. The Royal College of Nursing and the British Medical Association are both established, approved bodies on this list, so subscriptions to either are generally deductible for eligible members. For any other professional body, union or royal college, it's worth checking HMRC's current published list directly rather than assuming it's included, since coverage isn't universal across every organisation NHS staff might belong to.

Can I claim for both my regulator fee and my union subscription in the same claim? +

Yes — where both qualify, they're claimed together on the same P87 form as separate line items, along with anything else you're claiming for, such as uniform laundering. There's no requirement to submit them separately, and doing so together is generally simpler than making multiple claims over time.

How do I actually claim relief on fees I've paid personally? +

Most straightforwardly through form P87, the same form used for uniform laundering and other employment expense claims — either online through your personal tax account using your Government Gateway login, or by post. Unlike the flat-rate uniform allowance, this is an actual-cost claim, so you'll need to know (and ideally be able to evidence, such as through payment confirmations or your registration renewal receipt) the exact amount you paid for each fee or subscription in the relevant tax year.

Can I backdate a claim for registration fees I've paid in previous years but never claimed relief on? +

Generally yes, subject to HMRC's standard four-year backdating window for this type of employment expense claim, meaning a first-time claim submitted now could typically cover the current tax year plus the four before it. You'll need to know what you actually paid in each of those years, which may mean digging out old payment confirmations or renewal receipts from your regulator or professional body if you don't have them readily to hand.

If my total claim (registration fees, subscriptions, uniform allowance) is quite large, is there a limit on using the simple P87 process? +

Yes — if your total employment expenses claim for a tax year comes to more than £2,500, HMRC requires you to claim through Self Assessment instead of the simpler P87 route for that year. For most individual NHS staff claiming registration fees, subscriptions and the uniform allowance together, the total is unlikely to reach that threshold, but it's worth being aware of if you're claiming several years' worth of fees at once, or combining this with other, larger employment expense claims.