Working in the United Kingdom (UK)

Support and advice for international radiographers looking to work in the UK

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In This Section

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Radiographers in the UK 

Radiographers in the United Kingdom are highly professional statutorily regulated health care practitioners, who train as either diagnostic radiographers or therapeutic radiographers.

The profession is one of the 14 Allied Health Professions (AHPs) in the UK regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). 

UK Radiographers take responsibility for leading complete procedures within imaging or radiotherapy, working alongside other members of the multi-professional team: 

  • Diagnostic radiographers provide services that are central to delivering a fast and reliable diagnosis of traumatic injuries, acute and chronic illnesses, and other diseases plus monitoring of disease progression and long-term conditions. They also deliver many imaging aspects of national cancer screening programmes as well as ultrasound services for the prenatal screening service. 
  • Therapeutic radiographers deliver curative and palliative care for cancer patients. They support patients through their radiotherapy treatment pathway. 

Assessing your qualifications 

The UK National Information Centre for the recognition and evaluation of international qualifications and skills (UK ENIC) is responsible for providing information and expert opinion on vocational, academic and professional skills and qualifications from over 180 countries worldwide.  

It is advisable to request a statement of comparability from UK ENIC prior to applying for registration with the HCPC.

For more information, please visit the UK ENIC website. 

HCPC registration 

To work as a radiographer in the UK, you need to be registered with the HCPC

The HCPC will consider each case individually and will look at the length and level of the training leading to qualification and experience gained working as a radiographer overseas.

International candidates will also have to meet standards of proficiency for radiographers as well as demonstrate their English language skills via the appropriate test. 

To learn more, please visit the International Recruitment section of the HCPC website

SoR Membership 

We are the Society of Radiographers, the professional body and trade union for radiographers in the United Kingdom. 

We help our members by:

  • looking after your educational and workplace interests
  • providing advice and representation when needed
  • developing authoritative guidance on all areas of practice
  • funding research grants, awards, conferences and event programmes
  • lobbying government

While it is not mandatory to join, you may find having access to our membership benefits useful during both your application stage, when looking to work in the UK, as well as when successful in employment. We have over 30,000 members, including some based internationally. 

To explore our membership benefits, please see here

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