Employer attitudes, policies and practice towards public health practitioner registration: Research briefing for employers

Public health practitioners make up an important part of the workforce, but are not currently required to be registered with a regulator. There is widespread agreement that registration is valuable in principle in protecting the public and upholding professional standards. The UK Public Health Register (UKPHR) provides voluntary registration but as of 2020 only a small proportion of the practitioner workforce was registered. Previous research suggests that only a minority of practitioner job descriptions include registration as an essential or desirable criterion. A new study from the University of the West of England reports on the attitudes, policy and practice of employers towards UKPHR practitioner registration across London and South East England. Recommendations include that employers should consider support for practitioner registration in professional development policies and strategies, and as a minimum include registration as a desirable in job descriptions. A summary of the report is can be found here, and the full report can be found on the University of the West of England website here.