Support UMAPs legal action & help us protect the Medical Associate Professions
Support UMAPs legal action & help us protect the Medical Associate Professions
Support UMAPs legal action & help us protect the Medical Associate Professions
Support UMAPs legal action & help us protect the Medical Associate Professions
Support UMAPs legal action & help us protect the Medical Associate Professions
Support UMAPs legal action & help us protect the Medical Associate Professions
The Only Union for MAPs, by MAPs
UMAPs is the voice for Medical Associate Professionals ensuring we won’t be ignored, diluted, or altered beyond recognition. MAPs have faced sustained misinformation, hostility, and decisions made about us without us, and it became clear that our professions required dedicated, informed representation. For MAPs, by MAPs.
We provide professional advice, support, and advocacy for MAPs at every stage of their career. As a trade union built by MAPs, we believe there is a right way to achieve change. That means being evidence-led, principled, and prepared to engage constructively, while never compromising on the safety, dignity, or professional integrity of our members.
When you join UMAPs, you are joining more than a union. You are joining a collective of professionals who understand the realities of working as a MAP in today’s NHS. Together, we are a credible, organised, and growing voice, standing up for what matters most at work and for the future of our professions.
Free Counselling Support with any Membership
As a UMAPs member, you and your family can access:
- Counselling support – 24/7 online, telephone, live chat, and in-person counselling.
- Critical incident support – trauma-trained counsellors available in emergencies.
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – structured programmes, online resources, and telephonic CBT.
- Bereavement support – including counselling and legal guidance.
- Legal advice – consumer rights, housing, property, family law, wills, and more.
- Debt & financial support – including budgeting, credit, pensions, and financial coaching.
- Medical information – support from clinicians and access to a nationwide network of practitioners.
- Work-life advice – childcare, eldercare, relationships, and family challenges.
The Wellbeing App for iOS or Android gives you access to:
- Live chat with a counsellor
- Wellbeing articles, videos, and podcasts
- Interactive mood tracker
- Mini health checks and 4-week health plans
- Guided meditation and soundscapes
- Fitness and nutrition support, including recipes and exercise videos
- Access to BrightTV – a monthly wellbeing video series with guest speakers
Types of Support at Work*
Workplace issues
- Informal workplace support and advice
- Formal grievance representation
- Disciplinary hearings and investigations
- Capability and performance management processes
- Bullying, harassment and discrimination cases
- Whistleblowing support
- Suspension representation
- Return-to-work and workplace adjustments
- Mediation with employers
Employment rights
- Advice on contracts, job descriptions and role changes
- Pay disputes and incorrect pay claims
- Working time, rest breaks and rota disputes
- Flexible working requests
- Maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave issues
- Sickness absence and occupational health processes
- Redundancy consultation and selection disputes
Legal escalation
- Early conciliation support
- Employment Tribunal case preparation and representation
- Settlement agreement advice and negotiation
- Support with constructive dismissal claims
- Support with unfair or wrongful dismissal claims
Regulatory and Fitness to Practise Support
- Advice and representation in regulatory investigations
- Support with Fitness to Practise proceedings
- Assistance with regulator correspondence and submissions
- Representation at hearings or panels
- Support during interim orders or conditions of practice
- Appeals support
*(subject to membership category)
What Does Unionising Mean
A union is a collective defence structure
- It allows a profession to act as one body rather than isolated individuals.
- It exists precisely for moments when individuals are too weak to act alone.
- It exists to pool money for use towards large scale legal challenges & the protection of the profession, and to increase legitimacy, legal standing and political weight.
Union membership is not transactional, it is a collective insurance
Your subscription funds:
- Legal challenges to protect the profession that would be unaffordable on an individual basis.
- Public counter-narratives when misinformation dominates.
- Infrastructure that allows MAPs to exist as a recognised workforce.
- The protection of colleagues whose cases set precedent for everyone else.
Mandate
Membership numbers matter
Governments, employers and regulators only engage seriously when a workforce reaches a critical mass. Without sufficient numbers, concerns are easy to ignore.
Recognition
Representation and Recognition
A union is recognised because it speaks for a defined professional group. Without a union, MAPs are treated as a workforce convenience rather than a profession with standing, voice and agency.
Collective Risk-Sharing
Funding the defence of the profession
Members fund the defence of the profession as a whole. This includes supporting colleagues currently under pressure, bringing test cases, pursuing legal challenges and taking strategic action that no individual could sustain alone.
Memberships
Full Memberships
For qualified MAPs working clinically
Comprehensive protection and support for qualified MAPs. This includes medical indemnity, expert employment and disciplinary representation, professional defence against complaints, access to CPD and educational resources, and membership of our supportive online community. Designed for MAPs who want complete coverage and confidence in their practice.
New Graduates
For New Grads in their first year
For MAPs in their first year post-graduation. This membership places you within UMAPs’ New Graduate Network and provides structured early-career support and professional advocacy as you transition into independent practice.
Students
For Student MAPs
Made for MAP students entering the profession. This membership includes free medical indemnity, tailored CPD courses and training materials, employment law advice, advocacy support and access to a secure community of students and professionals to help you build your career.
Career Gap Membership
Reduced Rate for Non-Clinical MAPs
For MAPs who are temporarily not in employment but wish to remain supported and connected. This membership provides continued access to wellbeing and counselling services, legal and financial advice, medical information support, and regular professional updates, ensuring you remain protected, informed and professionally engaged during periods away from clinical practice.
Career Gap Membership
Reduced Rate for Non-Clinical MAPs
For MAPs who are temporarily not in employment but wish to remain supported and connected. This membership provides continued access to wellbeing and counselling services, legal and financial advice, medical information support, and regular professional updates, ensuring you remain protected, informed and professionally engaged during periods away from clinical practice.
News & Updates
Medical Associate Professionals State of the Workforce Revealed
UMAPs is an organisation created in November 2023 to unite the 3 strands of the Medical Associate Professions: Physician Associates, Anaesthesia Associates and Surgical Care Practitioners, after a noticeable uptick in negative press and social...
UMAPs Position Statement Regarding Unilateral BMA Imposition of Scope on MAP Workforce
UMAPs deems that it is inappropriate for a union, that does not represent MAPs, to unilaterally redefine and attempt to impose a scope of practice on another profession, and as such the BMA are acting outside of their remit. This document was...
Urgent UMAPs Statement on House of Lords Vote on Draft Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024
UMAPS, the professional association that represents Medical Associate Professionals (MAPs) and will form the first MAP trade union in the UK, today greatly welcomes the vote in the House of Lords that paves the way for regulation of MAPs by the...
