Registration and licensing requirements

Doctors must be registered with a licence to practise, to work as a doctor in the UK. Employers and healthcare providers must make sure that their doctors hold appropriate registration for their role, type of post or practice. 

Roles requiring a licence to practise

The Medical Act states that doctors must hold a licence to practise to: 

• write prescriptions 
• sign death certificates or other types of medical certificates such as cremation certificates 
• assess the mental health of patients and recommend compulsory treatment. 

The Act also outlines other activities where a doctor must hold a licence. As well as the Medical Act, there are many other pieces of legislation that set out when a doctor must hold a licence.

For roles that fall outside of these areas, we advise doctors to seek advice from their employer (or the organisation contracting/using their services) about whether a licence is needed for their work. 

We have developed a list of discussion points to work through together for this purpose. We recommend that contracts and job descriptions state whether the doctor needs to hold a licence to undertake the role. 

It’s important to remind doctors in training that they must have a licence to practise to hold a national training number. 

Employing a doctor who holds registration only  

A doctor who holds registration only can apply for a job that requires them to have a licence, and you shouldn’t be deterred from offering them a role. The doctor can apply to restore their licence, which can be relatively straightforward. If you decide to make an offer of employment, you should:

• make sure the doctor has the qualifications and experience needed for the role
• remind the doctor that they must have restored their licence to practise before they can start work check the doctor’s registration status on our online medical register.

Find out more about the different types of registration.

Find out more about the licence to practise.