NHS Jobs supporting evidence: how to fill in the essential and desirable criteria boxes
Updated · By the Tick the Spec team
In the current NHS Jobs service, your supporting evidence is split into sections that follow the person specification: Qualifications and Experience are always there, and the employer can add more, such as Knowledge and skills. Each section has an essential criteria box and a desirable criteria box, and the NHS Jobs user guide says each box allows up to 5,000 characters. To be shortlisted, use each box to evidence the criteria listed under that heading, in order, with specific examples, and leave out anything that identifies you, because many employers shortlist anonymously.
How the section is laid out
According to the NHSBSA user guide for applicants (August 2026), the "Essential and desirable criteria" part of the application works like this:
- Qualifications and Experience are mandatory sections.
- The employer can add further sections, such as Knowledge and skills.
- Each section has an Essential criteria box and a Desirable criteria box.
- The tip on each page says you have a character limit of up to 5,000 and can copy and paste your text in.
- Each page warns: do not include personal information that could identify you, such as your name or contact details.
- You can save application information and reuse it for later applications, but it is replaced each time you save.
Some employers recruit through other systems, such as Trac, and those forms look different. If you are applying through Trac, see our Trac application guide.
What 5,000 characters looks like
5,000 characters, including spaces, is roughly 700 to 900 words of plain English. That is a generous limit for a single section, but the panel's time is not. For most posts, aim to cover every criterion in the section clearly, then stop. You do not have to use the full limit, and padding makes your evidence harder to find.
Draft in a word processor that counts characters with spaces, keep a copy, then paste in. Check line breaks after pasting; formatting such as bullet points and bold may not carry over, so use short paragraphs and plain-text headings.
What to put in each box
Qualifications: essential
List each essential qualification from the person specification and say how you meet it: the qualification, the level, and the year if useful. If registration is required (NMC, HCPC, GPhC and so on), say which part of the register and your status, for example "registered" or "awaiting registration, expected March". If you are relying on "or equivalent experience", explain what that experience is.
Qualifications: desirable
Desirable courses and certificates, and anything relevant you are working towards, with an expected completion date.
Experience: essential
This is usually the most important box. Take each essential experience criterion in order, use it (or a short version) as a heading, and give one specific, recent example of what you did and what happened. See how to write NHS supporting information for a structure.
Experience: desirable
Short examples for any desirable experience you genuinely have.
Additional sections (for example Knowledge and skills)
Treat these the same way. Knowledge criteria are best evidenced by showing knowledge in use: a policy you followed, a guideline you applied, training you put into practice.
Keeping it anonymous
Because the guide asks you not to include identifying information, and many trusts shortlist with names removed, avoid your name, email, phone number, address and date of birth in these boxes. Where you can, describe employers in a way that does not identify you personally; naming a large employer such as a hospital trust is usually fine, but follow any specific instruction in the advert. Never include patient-identifiable details in clinical examples.
Worked example (fictional)
This is an invented applicant and invented criteria for a Band 3 Outpatient Booking Clerk post.
Experience: essential box (criteria: "Experience of working in a busy customer-facing environment"; "Experience of using computer systems to book appointments or record data").
Experience of working in a busy customer-facing environment
For three years I have worked at the front desk of a dental practice that sees about 80 patients a day. I greet patients, check them in, take payments and answer the phone. On a typical morning I manage a queue at the desk while the phone rings; I prioritise patients in front of me, use a call-back list for non-urgent calls, and ask a colleague to cover the phone if the wait goes over five minutes. When a patient arrived distressed after missing an appointment, I listened, apologised for any confusion, found an emergency slot that afternoon and wrote down the time for her. Our practice's patient survey regularly mentions the reception team as friendly and efficient.Experience of using computer systems to book appointments or record data
I use the practice management system every day to book, move and cancel appointments, record payments and update patient details. I check details back with each patient before saving. When the practice moved to a new booking system, I helped test it and wrote a one-page guide for the two part-time receptionists, which the practice manager now gives to new starters.
That is about 1,250 characters: well within the limit, with both criteria clearly evidenced.
Common mistakes
- Pasting a whole cover letter into one box and leaving the others thin.
- Putting experience in the qualifications box, or the reverse. The panel scores each section against its own criteria.
- Leaving the desirable boxes empty when you have relevant evidence.
- Including your name or contact details in the text.
- Reusing saved application information unchanged for a different post with different criteria.
- Losing work: draft offline and save as you go.
Tick the Spec can read the person specification from the job pack, list the criteria under each heading, and show which ones your CV already evidences. The shortlisting sheet is free, so you can check your coverage before you start filling in the boxes.