AtlacareCompliance guides
Regulation, data protection, VAT and record-keeping for UK allied health practitioners, with the sources named.
Can Nutritionists Order Blood Tests for Clients?
Taking blood and sending it to a lab is a CQC-regulated activity, and doing it unregistered is a criminal offence. The exemption turns on where the sample goes.
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 20149 min read
Read the articleMore articles
- Compliance
What Marketing Claims Can Nutritionists Legally Make?
CAP has yet to see evidence that nutritional therapy treats any condition, and rule 12.2 sets a qualification bar. Together they rule out a lot of copy.
CAP Code section 129 min read
- Compliance
How to Track Weight and Measurements Properly Since NICE NG246
Weight and BMI alone stopped being NICE-aligned in January 2025. You now need height, waist circumference and recorded ethnicity to classify anyone correctly.
NICE NG2469 min read
- Compliance
Return to Play Documentation: What Protects You After a Concussion
UK grassroots guidance says day 21 at the earliest, with 14 days symptom-free first. Only enhanced care pathways can clear an earlier return.
UK Concussion Guidelines for Non-Elite Sport9 min read
- Compliance
How Long Must You Keep Obstetric and Gynaecology Records?
Maternity records run to 25 years against 8 for adults. The reason is the Limitation Act, and the NHS schedule everyone quotes does not bind private practice.
Limitation Act 1980 s.28 · NHS Records Management Code9 min read
- Compliance
Do I Have to Publish My Fees to PHIN?
Yes, and it is not voluntary. A binding CMA order requires it, the GMC treats it as a professional duty, and the CMA has escalated enforcement.
CMA Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 20149 min read
- Compliance
Private Prescribing: Private Scripts, FP10 and the Number You Need First
Private prescriptions for controlled drugs need form FP10PCD and a six-digit prescriber identifier, or pharmacies should not dispense. Get it before you open.
Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 · NHS prescription forms9 min read
- Compliance
Do I Need CQC Registration to Practise as a Private GP?
The consulting room exception depends on a performers list. Leave the NHS entirely and you lose it, and CQC registration, without changing anything clinically.
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 20149 min read
- Compliance
Revalidation as a Fully Private GP: What If You Have No Designated Body?
Leave the NHS entirely and you may have no responsible officer at all. There are three routes to revalidate, and getting it wrong can cost your licence.
Medical Profession (Responsible Officers) Regulations 201010 min read
- Compliance
POM-A and POM-S Annotations: What Podiatrists Can Administer and Supply
Two HCPC annotations with different scopes. HCPC does not publish the medicines lists, so here they are, with the mixing rule that catches people out.
Human Medicines Regulations 2012 · HCPC annotations9 min read
- Compliance
Can Police or a Court Demand Your Therapy Notes?
There is no therapist-client privilege in English law. But a police request is not an order, and a 2026 statutory code presumes such requests are unjustified.
Victim Information Requests Code of Practice10 min read
- Compliance
Controlled Drug Storage in a Private Clinic: What the Law Actually Requires
The famous CD cabinet specification covers five kinds of premises, and private clinics are not one. What does bind you, and why to buy the cabinet anyway.
Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973 · Misuse of Drugs Regulations 20019 min read
- Compliance
FGM Mandatory Reporting: The Duty That Applies to You as a Physiotherapist
HCPC registrants are caught by the statutory FGM reporting duty. It is personal, it cannot be delegated, and failing it is a fitness to practise matter.
FGM Act 2003 s.5B · Serious Crime Act 20159 min read
- Compliance
What Happens If a Patient Complains About Me to the HCPC?
Most HCPC fitness to practise cases close without a hearing. The real 2024-25 funnel numbers, the timescales, and what to do the day a letter arrives.
HCPC Fitness to Practise10 min read
- Compliance
IRMER Rules for X-rays in a Chiropractic Clinic
Chiropractors taking X-rays are excepted from CQC registration, yet CQC enforces IRMER 2017 against them. What the four duty holder roles require of you.
IRMER 2017 · HSCA 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regs 201411 min read
- Compliance
Do I Need CQC Registration for a Private Gynaecology Clinic?
For most private gynaecologists the answer is yes, and the reason is the diagnostic work rather than the consultation. What the 2014 Regulations actually say.
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 201410 min read
- Compliance
Prepaid Care Plans: What the New FCA Rules Mean for Your Clinic
Since 15 July 2026 the FCA regulates buy now pay later. A clinic running its own pay-monthly plan stays exempt. A third-party provider changes that.
FCA Policy Statement PS26/19 min read
- Compliance
Why Counsellors Have to Charge VAT When Physiotherapists Do Not
VAT exemption for health services follows statutory registration, not the work you do. Why counselling is standard rated at 20% and physiotherapy is not.
VATA 1994 Sch 9 Group 7 · VAT Notice 701/579 min read
- Compliance
Do I Need a Local Authority Special Treatment Licence?
Massage, acupuncture and dry needling licensing across the UK: Wales made it criminal in 2024, London exempts HCPC, Scotland exempts regulated professions.
Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 · London Local Authorities Act 199110 min read
- Compliance
Sports Therapist vs Physiotherapist: What Can You Legally Call Yourself?
Physiotherapist is a protected title with a criminal offence attached. Sports therapist is not. That single difference changes your VAT, your advertising and your insurer access.
Health Professions Order 2001, article 3910 min read
- Compliance
How Long Should You Keep Counselling Records After a Client Leaves?
BACP points at three years. The NHS code says twenty. The seven years repeated across therapy software blogs has no authoritative source. Here is how to decide.
UK GDPR · BACP Ethical Framework9 min read
- Compliance
Can I Call Myself a Nutritionist Without a Degree in the UK?
Legally, yes. Nutritionist is not a protected title and the register that governs it says so itself. Dietitian is protected, and misusing it is a criminal offence.
Health Professions Order 2001, article 399 min read
- Compliance
What Can Chiropractors Legally Claim in Advertising?
You cannot advertise treating whiplash. That single restriction catches most clinics marketing to road traffic accident patients, and a CAP breach is also a GCC breach.
CAP Code section 12 · GCC Code standard B310 min read
- Compliance
What Health Claims Can a Dietitian Legally Make in Marketing?
Two separate regimes govern this and almost nobody separates them. Your HCPC registration is what lets you make treatment claims a nutritional therapist cannot.
CAP Code section 12 · Regulation (EC) 1924/200610 min read
- Compliance
Can I Sell Meal Plans as a Digital Product? The VAT Trap for Dietitians
Your consultations are VAT exempt. A meal plan sold without one may not be. And whether you email the PDF by hand or automatically changes its legal character entirely.
VAT Notice 701/57 · digital services rules10 min read
- Compliance
Handling Client Food Diaries Under GDPR
A food diary is health data. And a statutory definition in the Data Protection Act means nutritionists cannot rely on the same lawful basis a dietitian can.
UK GDPR Article 9 · Data Protection Act 2018 s.2049 min read
- Compliance
Consent and Chaperones for Internal Examinations in Women's Health Physio
Pelvic floor examination is a post-registration competence and cannot be delegated to a support worker. Written consent is not mandatory, but the chaperone offer must be recorded.
CSP/POGP PD092 · CSP consent guidance9 min read
- Compliance
How to Market Pelvic Health Services Without Breaching the Rules
The ASA's accepted physiotherapy conditions list contains no pelvic condition at all. And Google bans personalised advertising based on genital, bowel or urinary health.
CAP Code section 12 · Google personalised advertising policy9 min read
- Compliance
What Can Osteopaths Legally Claim in Advertising?
CAP publishes a closed list of conditions osteopaths may advertise treating. Anything outside it needs clinical evidence, and an ASA breach is also a GOsC breach.
CAP Code section 12 · GOsC Osteopathic Practice Standard D110 min read
- Compliance
Is There VAT on Orthotics? A Guide for UK Podiatrists
Your treatment is exempt. Goods applied during it are exempt. Goods handed over separately usually are not, and that distinction can force you to register for VAT.
VAT Notice 701/57 · VAT Notice 701/79 min read
- Compliance
How Many Supervision Hours Do You Need as a BACP Counsellor?
Not one and a half hours a month, unless you are accredited. BACP sets no fixed minimum for registered members, which is the opposite of what most sources say.
BACP Ethical Framework8 min read
- Compliance
Can I See Therapy Clients Who Live Abroad?
Three separate traps: their country's law applies, EU GDPR can reach you extraterritorially, and your indemnity may have territorial limits you have never checked.
UK GDPR Article 3(2) and Article 2710 min read
- Compliance
Is My Practice VAT Exempt? A Discipline-by-Discipline Guide
Which UK allied health professions are VAT exempt, which are standard-rated, and why statutory registration and therapeutic purpose decide it. Full table.
VAT Notice 701/57 · VATA 1994 Sch 9 Group 710 min read
- Compliance
Can a Self-Employed Practitioner Get an Enhanced DBS Check? The Rules Changed
Until January 2026 the self-employed could only get a Basic DBS. Enhanced checks are now available, but only through an Umbrella Body, and most published advice is out of date.
DBS eligibility rules, updated 21 January 20269 min read
- Compliance
Moving Your Physio Practice From Paper Records to Digital: A Practical Guide
Can you legally destroy paper patient records after scanning them? What BS 10008 requires, what UK GDPR adds, and the order to do a migration in without losing anything.
BS 10008 · UK GDPR · DPA 201810 min read
- Compliance
Do I Need CQC Registration as a Private Physiotherapist in England?
Most private physios do not need CQC registration. Here is why, and the three situations where the answer changes.
Health and Social Care Act 20084 min read
- Compliance
How Long Do I Need to Keep Physiotherapy Patient Records?
The specific retention periods UK private physios must follow, where the figures come from, and what to do when records reach the end of their life.
NHS Records Management Code of Practice (2021)4 min read
- Compliance
UK GDPR for Physiotherapists: Six Things You Must Do
What UK GDPR actually requires of a private physiotherapy practice, in plain English: who is responsible, what your software has to give you, and a compliance checklist.
UK GDPR Art. 9 · Data Protection Act 20188 min read