Professional Qualifications Act 2022

Key Points

• Regulators decide, based on knowledge and skills, whether an individual's qualifications meet the required standard for a given profession.
• Regulations may specify additional conditions that must be met for someone to be treated as having a UK qualification or UK experience.
• Before regulations are made, the appropriate national authority must consult regulators likely to be affected (and provisions were debated about consulting devolved administrations).
• The Act includes a formal list (Schedule) of regulators of regulated professions and aims to preserve regulator autonomy while expanding how qualifications are recognised.
• The debates explored potential EU-recognition and reciprocity, sunset clauses, and stronger parliamentary oversight, but many of these ideas were withdrawn or not enacted.

Progress

The bill progressed through both Houses in 2021–22, with multiple amendments debated in Committee and Report stages. It received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022 and became law as the Professional Qualifications Act 2022. Several proposed enhancements (e.g., sunset provisions, stricter affirmative procedures, explicit protections for existing qualifications) were withdrawn or not enacted.

Voting

In the Lords’ Third Reading, the bill passed with strong cross-party support from the governing party and its allies, while opposition groups such as SNP and Plaid Cymru voted against. The party-position notes show Conservatives, DUP and Reform UK voting Aye; SNP and Plaid Cymru voting No; other parties recorded mixed or not moved on various amendments.