The GPhC guidance for those who were unsuccessful in the registration assessment can be found at the bottom of the page here. There are clear grounds for appeal.
Grounds for appeal
An appeal will only be considered by the regulator on one of the following grounds:
- Procedural grounds – this is when the candidate feels that a registration assessment procedure was not correctly applied.
- Exceptional circumstances – this is when there was a situation unique to the candidate, which may have affected their performance during a sitting, but that they did not know about and could not have known about before or during the sitting e.g. they have been diagnosed with a disability that would have impacted their performance on the day, but they were not aware of until after the exam and after the nullification period had passed.
Reasons which do not qualify for an appeal
Candidates cannot appeal against an unsuccessful result if they could have asked for their assessment attempt to be nullified for the same reason. If a candidate sat the assessment, they are considered to have declared themselves ‘fit to sit’. Appeals cannot be made on the basis of disagreement or views on the exam framework.
Providing evidence
Candidates must submit evidence with their application to support their explanation of how their circumstances meet the grounds for appeal. The evidence must be clear and in a Microsoft Word or PDF format.
If the candidate’s appeal is on medical grounds, they have to include evidence from the healthcare professional who is involved in their condition. The GPhC may contact this person for more information. The GPhC need the candidate’s consent to do this but have stated in their guidance that it may affect the outcome of a candidate’s appeal if there are questions about their health that they are not able to answer from the evidence that the candidate has provided.
If a candidate thinks they may have valid grounds for an appeal, they must send their appeal form and supporting evidence via email to regexam@pharmacyregulation.org by 5 pm on 3 January 2023.
The PDA can support PDA members with their appeal. For help, please contact the PDA by phone 0121 694 7000 or email enquiries@pda-union.org.
Appeal outcomes
There are only two possible outcomes from the appeal:
- The appeal is not upheld, in which case the fail mark stands, and the candidate will fail that attempt at the registration assessment.
- The appeal is upheld, in which case the candidate’s sitting attempt is nullified and will not count as one of their available attempts. If the candidate was previously on the provisional register and their appeal is upheld, they will be allowed to return to practice as a provisional registrant.
The appeal form can be accessed here.
Learn more
- Withdrawal and Nullification for the November 2022 assessment
- GPhC guidance for unsuccessful candidates
- PDA welcomes measures to improve online exams
Not yet a PDA member?
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Read about our key member benefits here.