Free practice test

Tests

Driving testsCitizenship testsSchool and university admissionsNursing, medicine and healthEnglish and French testsTeachingMoney, law and insuranceTrades and work certification and licensesPilots, drones, boats and radio

Countries

United StatesCanadaUnited KingdomAustraliaNew Zealand

United Kingdom · Registration assessment

Pharmacist training: the foundation year

After your degree comes the foundation year: supervised training at an approved training site, where you show you meet all the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) learning outcomes. It’s the last stage of pharmacist training before the Common Registration Assessment and registration.

  • 52Weeks of supervised training
  • JuneWhen to apply, a year ahead
  • 12 weeksUsual notice before your time limit ends
Free practice test

Updated November 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

How do you get a pharmacist training place?

In England, Scotland and Wales, through the national recruitment scheme run by each country’s statutory education body, such as NHS England in England. You must apply through these schemes, and you can’t apply to individual employers.

To start training straight after your Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree or Overseas Pharmacists’ Assessment Programme (OSPAP), apply in June of the year before the year you finish. The schemes don’t allow late applications under any circumstances.

Programmes run through GPhC-accredited schemes from the statutory education bodies in England, Scotland and Wales, apart from a small number arranged directly by universities. On a sandwich or integrated course, your university will advise you.

Foundation trainee status and the GPhC

The GPhC gets information about your training from your statutory education body. It uses it to approve your status as a foundation trainee, to invite you to apply to sit the registration assessment and, later, to confirm you meet the requirements when you apply to register.

The GPhC contacts you when you can create a myGPhC account to apply for foundation trainee status, and you pay a fee with that application. The GPhC’s foundation training page doesn’t give the amount.

Which sitting your training start leads to

To sit the assessment, you need approved foundation trainee status and a training start within your statutory education body’s window:

  • Summer 2027 sitting: training started in the summer 2026 window
  • Autumn 2027 sitting: training started in the autumn 2026 window

You can check your eligibility with your statutory education body.

See the 2027 sitting →

Time limits and extensions

You have a time limit to register. If you won’t finish your education and training within it, contact the GPhC’s extensions team; the request form usually arrives 12 weeks before your expiry date. The limit may be extended where training was interrupted or part time, for reasons such as:

  • Part-time study
  • Reasonable adjustments
  • Maternity or paternity leave
  • Serious illness
  • Army Reserves or national service
  • An international pandemic

Extensions need appropriate evidence, may come with extra training or a work-based assessment, and can be partial. Withdrawing from a sitting, or having one nullified, doesn’t extend your time limit.

See the attempt rules →

Independent prescribing and the assessment

If your MPharm met the GPhC’s 2021 standards, you’re assessed at prescribing during foundation training. Once your designated prescribing practitioner signs you off, you can apply to register as an independent prescriber.

With an MPharm to the earlier 2011 standards, or after an OSPAP, you can’t register as an independent prescriber at first: you take an accredited independent prescribing course after you register. Everyone sits the same registration assessment, and it has no content specific to independent prescribers.

See how to qualify →
Sources: GPhC and 3 more. Checked November 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

Explore

Everything else, in one place

OverviewPractice testStudy optionsCalculationsResultsQualifying