How to Find an NMC Confirmer (Agency and Solo Nurses)

The confirmation requirement is the one most often delayed by nurses outside conventional employment. Most agency, bank, locum and self-employed registrants don’t have a clear line manager. The default path doesn’t apply.

This chapter is the practical guide to finding a confirmer when the default doesn’t work.

The NMC’s confirmer hierarchy

The NMC publishes an explicit hierarchy. Follow it in order, picking the highest available:

1. Line manager (NMC registered preferred but not required).

2. Senior NMC registrant who has worked with you for at least 12 months.

3. Regulated healthcare professional (doctor, allied health, dentist) who has worked with you for 12 months.

4. Overseas equivalent for nurses currently working overseas.

For agency, locum, bank and self-employed nurses, options 2 and 3 are usually the right paths.

The 12-month rule

The NMC expects the confirmer to have known you professionally for at least 12 months. This is the most common practical limitation.

What “worked with you” means:

• They’ve directly observed your practice.
• They’ve had professional oversight of your work.
• They’ve worked alongside you frequently enough to form a view of your competence.

A senior nurse who saw you on three shifts last quarter doesn’t really meet the 12-month test. A senior nurse at your most-frequent placement where you’ve worked monthly for 18 months does.

If you genuinely can’t meet the 12-month rule, document why and propose the strongest available option. The NMC accepts some flexibility but expects evidence of why the standard wasn’t met.

Option 1: The agency clinical lead

Most large UK nursing agencies have an in-house clinical lead, often a senior NMC-registered nurse. Their role typically includes nurse oversight, clinical issue management, and increasingly, support for nurse revalidation.

To check:

• Look at your agency’s website for the clinical lead’s name.
• Email or call the agency’s clinical team.
• Ask explicitly whether the clinical lead can confirm for revalidation purposes.

Many agencies have this as a service they offer. Some charge for the service; many don’t.

Option 2: A senior nurse at your most frequent placement

For agency or bank nurses who work consistently at one or two specific trusts, the senior nurse at that placement can be a strong confirmer.

To approach:

• Identify a senior nurse (ward manager, matron, clinical lead) you’ve worked with regularly.
• Have a brief conversation 6-12 months before your revalidation deadline.
• Frame it: “I’m coming up to my revalidation and don’t have a single line manager. Would you be willing to act as my confirmer? I’ve worked at the trust for over a year and you’ve seen my practice on multiple occasions.”

Most senior nurses are familiar with the confirmer role and willing to do it if they’ve genuinely had professional contact. They may want to see your evidence early to plan their time.

Option 3: A former line manager

A former line manager from a previous role can confirm if they’ve known you for 12+ months, which most line managers will have.

Constraints:

• Their professional knowledge of you needs to extend into the current cycle.
• If you left their role early in the cycle, they may have less observation of your recent practice.

Useful when: you’ve left employment and moved to agency work within the last 18 months, and your previous manager remains an NMC registrant.

Option 4: A trusted senior peer

If you’ve worked alongside a more senior NMC registrant in any context for 12+ months (a former colleague who moved trusts, a mentor relationship maintained outside formal employment, a senior nurse who supervises you informally), they can confirm.

The relationship needs to be substantive enough that they can speak to your practice. A senior nurse who has only had occasional contact won’t meet the spirit of the rule.

Option 5: Another regulated healthcare professional

For nurses with no NMC-registered senior in their professional network (rare but possible), the NMC accepts other regulated healthcare professionals.

Examples: a consultant doctor you work alongside in a specialty role; a senior allied health professional in your team; a registered pharmacist if your work has had significant pharmacy interface.

The 12-month rule still applies. The person should be in a senior position relative to you and have observed your work.

What to send the confirmer

Six to eight weeks before your revalidation deadline:

• Email them with the date you’ll need their confirmation.
• Share your evidence portfolio so they can review on their own time.
• Schedule a 30-60 minute meeting to walk through and sign the form.

The evidence pack:

• Summary of practice hours.
• CPD log with certificates linked.
• Five pieces of feedback.
• Five Form 6 reflective accounts.
• Reflective discussion form (signed).
• Indemnity confirmation.

The confirmer meeting

Run as covered in Chapter 26: a 30-60 minute walk-through of each requirement, with the confirmer signing the form at the end.

For agency or locum confirmers, the meeting may be by video call rather than in person. The NMC accepts this format. The signed form can be exchanged electronically.

When you can’t find anyone

Genuinely rare but does happen. Steps:

1. Contact your union (RCN, Unison). Both can sometimes help match registrants with confirmers in their network.
2. Contact the NMC directly to explain your situation. They can sometimes signpost options.
3. Reach out to former mentors, training colleagues, or peers from your nursing course.

Don’t leave this to the final month. Six months out is the latest comfortable point to be solving a confirmer problem.

The next chapter covers the NMC Online submission process: what to do once your evidence is gathered and your confirmer is signed.