If you're not undertaking professional practice, you may wish to change your status on our registers. You may also have taken a break from practice and wish to return to your previous registration status. Find out what this involves for you as a doctor.
What you should know before you change your status
If you give up your licence only, you will still be able to prove your good standing with us to other organisations, but you will pay a reduced annual fee. You will not be able to practise medicine in the UK.
If you give up your registration, you will not have to pay an annual fee. You will not be able to practise medicine in the UK.
You can only restore to the type of registration you last held. You may choose to do this with or without a licence. If you already hold registration without a licence, you can apply for your first licence or to restore your licence if you have previously given it up.
If you need to restore your licence to practice, or you need to apply for a licence to practice for the first time. This guide will tell you what you need to consider and the evidence we'll need to process an application for a licence to practise.
Find out about the process for making an application to join the Specialist Register or GP Register. To be granted specialist or GP registration, doctors must hold full registration with a licence to practise at the point specialist or GP registration is awarded.
Doctors need full registration with a licence to practise to either move on to the second year of the Foundation Programme (F2) in an approved training programme, or to work in unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or UK private practice.
We work with doctors, physician associates, anaesthesia associates, those they care for and other stakeholders to support good, safe patient care across the UK.
