When and how the revalidation recommendation is made

There may be exceptional circumstances where we need to change your submission date, or defer taking further steps in relation to your revalidation⁴. If we do this we will give you at least three months’ notice, and explain why.⁵ Examples of such circumstances include:

• If we agree a recommendation to defer made by your responsible officer or suitable person, we will change your revalidation submission date to give you more time. 
• If as a doctor in training, your CCT date moves forward, but you’re not in your notice period. Your responsible officer can ask us to bring forward your revalidation date so they can make their recommendation to us.
• We might change your submission date after you have received formal notice of your date in exceptional circumstances. For example if you are subject to a GMC fitness to practise investigation, and we need to delay your revalidation until the outcome of the investigation is known (see section 1.2).
• If you do not sufficiently engage with revalidation, we may cancel your submission date and reissue you with notice of an earlier date, to allow your responsible officer or suitable person to make a recommendation of non-engagement (see section 4.4.3).

If you change employer, or your designated body changes, your revalidation submission date stays the same. Your new responsible officer or suitable person must submit a recommendation on or before that date, within the statutory notice period.

This is a formal declaration from your responsible officer or suitable person that you are up to date and fit to practise. It confirms that you have:

• collected and reflected on the required supporting information for appraisal as outlined in the Supporting information for appraisal and revalidation guidance
• participated in the systems and processes to support revalidation, and
• met the requirements for revalidation as outlined in this guidance.

If we accept a recommendation to revalidate, both you and your responsible officer or suitable person will receive confirmation of our decision and of your next revalidation submission date.

This provides flexibility where a doctor is sufficiently meeting the requirements for their revalidation, but their responsible officer or suitable person needs more time before they can make a recommendation to revalidate.⁶

A deferral of your revalidation submission date:

• is not a penalty
• does not imply any judgement about your fitness to practise
• does not affect your licence to practise
• is not publicly available or published on the medical register.

The reasons we would accept a recommendation to defer are:

• You have been unable to collect and reflect on all of the required supporting information by your revalidation submission date and there are reasonable circumstances to account for this. 
• You are a doctor in training and have been unable to complete ARCP or provide the necessary full scope of practice information.
• You are participating in an ongoing local HR or disciplinary process and your responsible officer or suitable person needs that process to conclude before they can make a recommendation to revalidate.

Your responsible officer or suitable person must specify the period for which they need to defer your submission date and agree with you what you need to do by this new date. We expect you to meet these requirements by this date unless you have a reasonable excuse.

These requirements may include having another appropriate appraisal within the deferral period.

If we accept a recommendation to defer we will notify you and your responsible officer or suitable person of this decision, and confirm your new revalidation submission date at least three months in advance.⁷ We would not expect to receive a further recommendation to defer unless there were exceptional circumstances.

Your responsible officer or suitable person can make a recommendation of non-engagement if you have:

• not sufficiently engaged with the processes that support revalidation 
• failed to comply with the requirements for revalidation (set out in this guidance). 

Your responsible officer or suitable person can inform us of this at any time. They do not need to wait until your formal notice period. If they tell us you are not engaging before you receive notice of your submission date, we may remind you that you are required to engage in order to continue to hold your licence to practise.

If we accept a recommendation of non-engagement, we will begin the process of withdrawing your licence. We will:

• write to inform you that we have received a recommendation of non-engagement and that we are considering withdrawing your licence 
• give you the opportunity to make representations to us 
• obtain further information from your responsible officer or suitable person, based on your representations, as to whether they consider you are sufficiently engaging with revalidation. 
• consider your representations and any other information available to us and make a decision about whether you have failed to meet the requirements of revalidation without reasonable excuse and to withdraw your licence.

You can find more information about withdrawal of a licence in section 5.5.

If you begin to sufficiently engage with the revalidation process, we may decide not to withdraw your licence. Instead we may, for example, decide to defer your revalidation and issue you with a new revalidation submission date.

You can appeal a decision to withdraw your licence. More information about appeals is in section 7.