GPhC UK: Registration, Exams and Fees

• Pharmacists
• Pharmacy technicians
• Registered pharmacies
• Annotation for pharmacist independent prescribers

• You hold a pharmacist qualification from outside the EEA, or an EEA qualification that is not recognised for UK registration.
• You have completed all the education and training needed to register as a pharmacist in the country where you qualified.
• You have a UK ENIC Statement of Comparability for your pharmacy qualification. If it is not assessed as at least equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree in pharmacy with at least three academic years of pharmacy content, you must also complete the GPhC's international comparative assessment framework.
• You can show English competence: Academic IELTS with at least 7 overall and at least 7 in each skill, or Pharmacy OET with at least B in each skill, at one sitting, or one of the other forms of evidence the GPhC accepts.
• You can obtain a letter of good standing from the regulator in the country where you qualified, and from any other healthcare regulator you have been registered with in the last five years.
• You can provide an academic transcript sent directly from your university, and two references: one academic and one from your current or most recent employer.
• You can secure a place on an OSPAP course at a UK university and start within two academic years of the GPhC's eligibility decision.
• You can complete OSPAP, foundation training and the registration assessment, and apply to register, within four years of starting OSPAP.
• You are able to get the right to study and work in the UK. The GPhC cannot advise on visas.

Check your route with the route finder

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   1. Get your qualification compared by UK ENIC

   Apply to UK ENIC for a Statement of Comparability, which says how your pharmacy degree compares to UK qualifications. There is a charge for this. If your degree is not assessed as at least a UK bachelor's in pharmacy, the GPhC will ask you to map your syllabus against its international comparative assessment framework.
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   2. Apply to the GPhC for OSPAP eligibility

   Complete the paper application form, include proof of English and certified copies of your degree, ENIC statement and identity documents, and arrange for your transcript, letter of good standing and references to reach the GPhC directly. The fee is £830 and is non-refundable. Incomplete applications are returned, and the most common problems are missing English evidence and documents that do not come directly from the issuing body.
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   3. Secure an OSPAP place

   If you are eligible, the GPhC tells your chosen universities, but they decide whether to offer you a place. Courses usually start in September or October, and the GPhC recommends it receives your application before 31 July to give you time to apply. You must start within two academic years of the eligibility decision, and you pay the university's tuition fee.
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   4. Apply for foundation training through the national recruitment scheme

   Foundation training places in England and Wales are filled through the National Recruitment Scheme, and Scotland uses a similar process. Applications open in June for training that starts the following year, so if you want to start straight after OSPAP you may need to apply before your course begins. Late applications are not allowed under any circumstances, and you cannot apply to employers directly.
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   5. Complete OSPAP

   OSPAP is a one-year full-time postgraduate diploma with an academic assessment of your qualifications, taught modules and assessments. You may be exempt from some teaching based on prior learning, but you must complete all the assessments. Passing shows you meet the UK MPharm graduate criteria, but it does not give you an MPharm degree.
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   6. Complete 52 weeks of foundation training

   You train for at least 52 weeks at a training site quality managed by the statutory education body, under a designated supervisor who signs off your progress against the GPhC learning outcomes using an e-portfolio. You register with myGPhC and apply for foundation trainee status before you start. OSPAP graduates currently cannot join the register as independent prescribers straight away.
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   7. Pass the Common Registration Assessment

   When you are eligible, the GPhC invites you to apply to sit through myGPhC, and the fee is £208. The assessment is held twice a year at test centres across the UK. You must pass both parts at the same sitting and have a maximum of three attempts.
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   8. Apply to register

   Apply on myGPhC, pay the £128 application fee and post your supporting documents. When your pass result and your foundation training sign-off are confirmed, you pay the first-year registration fee of £310. You also need professional indemnity cover in place before you practise.

• Common Registration Assessment, Part 1

  40 pharmacy and healthcare calculations with free-entry numerical answers, with 120 minutes allowed. It is computer based, on the Surpass platform, at test centres across the UK. A calculator is permitted: your own approved model or the onscreen one.

• Common Registration Assessment, Part 2

  120 questions on the safe and effective pharmacy care of the public, with 150 minutes allowed: 90 single best answer questions with five options, and 15 sets of extended matching questions (two questions per set, eight shared options). You must pass Part 1 and Part 2 at the same sitting, and you can sit a maximum of three times.

• OSPAP assessments

  Each university sets and runs its own OSPAP assessments. You must complete all of them even if you are exempt from some taught content. Check the format with your chosen university.

• Academic IELTS, including IELTS for UKVI but not IELTS Life Skills, with an overall score of at least 7 and at least 7 in each of reading, writing, listening and speaking, at one sitting.
• Pharmacy OET, on paper or on computer, with at least grade B in each of reading, writing, listening and speaking, at one sitting. The GPhC does not accept OET@Home. Share your results with the GPhC through the myOET portal.
• Test results must normally be less than two years old when you apply. Older results may be accepted if you can show you have kept up your English, for example by working as a pharmacy professional in a mainly English-speaking country.
• A pharmacy qualification of three or more years, taught and examined in English in a majority English-speaking country other than the UK, can count as evidence.
• At least two years of practice as a registered pharmacist or pharmacy technician in a majority English-speaking country can count, with a detailed employer reference.
• Universities set their own English entry requirements for OSPAP and may still ask for a test even if the GPhC accepts other evidence.

Estimate your total cost

• OSPAP eligibility: the GPhC says it will provide an update within eight weeks of receiving your application.
• OSPAP: one academic year, full time, usually starting in September or October.
• Foundation training: 52 weeks, normally starting the year after you apply through the national recruitment scheme, which opens in June.
• Common Registration Assessment: two sittings a year (summer and autumn). For the November 2026 sitting, results were scheduled about five weeks after the assessment.
• Registration: the GPhC sets fixed registration dates and application deadlines after each sitting; you must apply within four years of starting OSPAP.
• Realistically, plan for around three years from your eligibility application to registration if every step goes to plan.