When practising as a nurse in Aotearoa New Zealand you must hold a valid practising certificate, which you renew each year.
To renew your annual practising certificate (APC), you must meet continuing competence requirements set by the Council.
As soon as you have completed your APC application and paid, you are authorised to practise and your details will show on the Register of practising nurses.
Nursing practice is not restricted to the provision of direct clinical care. Nursing practice extends to roles where a nurse uses their nursing skills and knowledge in non-clinical roles such as in management, administration, education, and research, and in advisory, regulatory and/or policy development roles that impact on safe, effective delivery of services.
The standards of competence set by the Nursing Council are designed for every nurse to apply them in the practice context of their work.
The Council is required to define practising, to determine whether a nurse has maintained the required standard of continuing competence and whether a nurse requires a practising certificate.
Nursing practice is using nursing knowledge in a direct relationship with clients or working in nursing management, nursing administration, nursing education, nursing research, nursing professional advice or nursing policy development roles, which impact on public safety.
This means that a person who has the responsibilities of a nurse as defined by the Nursing Council scopes of practice and is using their nursing knowledge in a direct relationship with clients should hold a practising certificate.
If a nurse is employed in one of the other roles set out in the definition, they may not require a practising certificate unless their role impacts on public safety.
The purpose of this definition is to ensure that nurses who are in a direct nursing relationship with clients or whose role impacts on public safety comply with the requirements of the Act.
The Act aims to ensure that nurses have maintained the required standard of competence to protect public safety, such as ongoing professional development and the completion of the required number of hours of practice.
The definition and its requirements do not extend to nurses who no longer have nursing responsibilities but who choose to continue working in the health care sector. The definition may include some practitioners who are working as nurses but whose employers have not previously required them to hold practising certificates.
If you have any questions about your eligibility or whether you require a practising certificate in your current role, please contact us.
If you do not apply for renewal before your current APC expires, you may be working without a current practising certificate. This is not permitted under the Act and may lead to disciplinary action. Nurses who practise without a practising certificate may be referred to a professional conduct committee for investigation.
To protect public safety, employers also have a responsibility to ensure that the nurses in their workplace hold current APCs.
If you are no longer practising or do not intend to practise after your APC expires, you do not need to renew. This could be because you are:
APCs are issued in one-year cycles depending on the nurse’s birth date (see the table below).
1 January – 31 March
31 March
1 April – 30 June
30 June
1 July – 30 September
30 September
1 October – 31 December
31 December
If you are newly registered, or you return to practise outside your normal renewal period, we will issue you with a practising certificate for a duration that will bring your annual renewal date in line with the renewal period for your birthday. Our fee will be adjusted accordingly.
This means your APC will be valid for either:
All fees quoted include the compulsory disciplinary levy and GST. APC fees are non-refundable.
We regularly report on the number of nurses with annual practising certificates. We also report on workforce information which is asked for at the same time a nurse applies for a practising certificate. This information includes where a nurse mainly practises, what area of nursing a nurse practises in, what type of employer they work for and the number of hours a nurse usually works per week. We do not identify individual nurses.
You can see our quarterly data and workforce reports here.
In addition, the Act requires the Council to provide workforce information, including the names of nurses, to the Director-General of Health for workforce planning and development purposes. Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora manages this data on behalf of the Director-General. The information is kept securely and cannot be used to publicly identify an individual nurse.
Anyone who is practising as a nurse in New Zealand must have an Annual Practising Certificate (APC)
To renew your APC please log on to the MyNC portal
Nurses can give the Council their email address by emailing: [email protected].