Requesting a reasonable adjustment for the registration assessment

To apply, you must:

• complete the correct application form explaining your condition, and specifying your requested adjustment(s)
• provide evidence from a qualified healthcare or educational professional confirming your diagnosis and the appropriateness of the requested adjustment(s) during the assessment so you are not disadvantaged
• submit your form and supporting information by the deadline given for the sitting.

The application form you will need to complete and the evidence you need to provide will depend on the type of condition. You must complete:

• application A - for specific learning needs, including dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and dyspraxia, where you will need to include a full diagnostic assessment report
• application B - for any other type of condition or need, where your healthcare professional must complete the required parts of the form. 

Important: If you have an ADHD diagnosis, submit:

• application A - if you have a full diagnostic report
• application B - for all other forms of formal diagnosis.

The deadline to apply for an adjustment for the June 2026 assessment is 5pm on Monday 23 February 2026. 

Each sitting has a specific deadline for adjustment requests. Check the key information for 2025/2026 foundation trainees page for further key dates.

We recommend starting your application early and contacting your healthcare professional in good time, as appointments may be difficult to schedule.

Incomplete applications may be rejected if they do not meet the guidance. We cannot accept late requests, as we need sufficient time to assess and implement adjustments.

If you need support submitting your application, please contact us before the deadline.

You must submit:

• a completed application form
• a full diagnostic assessment report, including test score
• details of how your learning difficulty affects you.

The assessment must be conducted by:

• a specialist teacher with a practising certificate in assessing specific learning difficulties, issued by their relevant professional association, or
• a psychologist with a practising certificate from their professional association.

If you have a specific learning need and another type of health condition, you must also submit a separate application B for your other health condition.

For dyslexia, dyscalculia, or dysgraphia, you must provide a full diagnostic assessment report (including test scores) of specific learning needs issued on or after your 16th birthday. 

If you have a report issued before your 16th birthday, please contact us as soon as possible, so that we can assess whether it meets the necessary requirements. 

For dyspraxia, you must provide a report of a diagnostic assessment or occupational therapists’ report issued on or after your 14th birthday.

We will not accept summary report, university needs assessments, QuickScreen Dyslexia assessments, or any other screening reports as evidence.

If your diagnostic assessment report doesn’t specify the adjustment(s) you are requesting, the specialist who assessed you and wrote your report, must write an accompanying letter confirming your specific request is appropriate. This must be on their branded headed paper, signed and dated by the author who completed your original report.

Ensure any diagnostic reports you send are accessible and don’t have any security restrictions. If your report is password protected, you must remove the password before sending to us as this could delay your application.

The British Dyslexia Association and the Dyslexia Foundation provide more information on diagnostic assessment, which you may find helpful.

You must submit:

• completed application form (by both you and a qualified healthcare professional)
• separate forms for each condition(s) with different treatment plans (submitted together).

The qualified healthcare professional's evidence must:

• detail your diagnosis (especially if recent)
• confirming ongoing treatment, medication, and/or support
• explain the need for the requested adjustment(s) and how they will be used
• describe the impact on your daily life.

A healthcare professional who is involved in your care in relation to the specific need or condition that you are requesting an adjustment(s) for.

They should ideally be based in the UK. We will only accept applications completed by overseas healthcare professionals where all the relevant sections have been completed and it is clear how they are involved in your care. 

If you are submitting applications for more than one condition, the healthcare professional completing each form must be involved in your care for that condition. This could be the same professional, such as your GP, or it could be a different professional.

Important: 

There must be no actual or perceived conflict of interest. For example, the professional must not be a family member, friend, or someone with a personal relationship with you.

Pharmacy professionals, including designated supervisors, are not eligible unless directly involved in your care and this can be evidenced.

Do not alter information provided by the professional.

Mental health conditions

Adjustments for mental health conditions will only be granted when the condition is classed as a disability under the Equality Act 2010 for Great Britain or the Special Education Needs & Disability (NI) Order 2005 for Northern Ireland. 

This means the condition must have a substantial, long term (12 months or more) impact on your daily life.

We do not grant adjustments for short term exam anxiety.

If your request relates to a mental health condition, the information the appropriately qualified professional provides within the form must confirm: 

• you have been formally diagnosed with the condition by an appropriately qualified professional
• the condition has lasted, or is likely to last, for 12 months or more
• the impact of the condition on your day-to-day life, and the likely impact on you in the assessment.

If you have received a diagnosis of mental health or other medical conditions within the last 12 months, we will only accept adjustment applications with substantial supporting medical evidence. This needs to include a detailed history of repeated engagement with appropriate primary or specialist care services relating to the condition.

In exceptional cases, the panel may use discretion where evidence is incomplete but compelling.

Examples of reasonable adjustments that may be granted include:

• extra time - if granted, the time allocated for each part will be:

• use of special equipment or furniture
• permission to use specific items during the assessment, for example, medical equipment, screen overlays and computer equipment  
• specific seating arrangements within a test centre, for example, sitting in a sole occupancy room, in smaller rooms or in a particular area of a room (for example, close to toilet/exit). Please note, most Surpass test centre assessment rooms are small and quiet
• seated in a test centre with lift access
• permission to leave your seat during the assessment, for example to move or stretch
• specific coloured paper for notes and workings
• modifications to screen display outside of those available to all trainee pharmacists as outlined in the Common Registration Assessment Specification and Permitted Items for sittings in 2026.

This list does is not exhaustive. If you have any questions about specific requirements, please email or phone the GPhC contact centre for advice.

Examples of adjustments that cannot be granted include:

• pausing the assessment or stopping the clock, including for rest breaks and toilet breaks
• taking the assessment in extra sittings, for example, over two days
• changes to the nature or content of the assessment, for example, the style of the assessment, or to the number of questions
• the layout of the assessment format on screen
• a paper version of the assessment
• providing the assessment in a language other than English
• extra time to accommodate trainee pharmacists whose first language is not English
• providing a reader or use of reading software.

The standard amount of granted additional time  is 25% of the total sitting time.

If you require more than 25% additional time, this is considered as ‘enhanced additional time’. The amount of enhanced additional time available is 35%, 50% or 100% of the standard time.

Granting enhanced additional time is at the discretion of the adjustment panel, which will make its decision based on the information you provide in your application and the supporting information provided by an appropriately qualified professional outlining why you would be disadvantaged without enhanced additional time.

Please note, if you are applying for additional or enhanced additional time, this may mean that you start the assessment earlier and/or finish the assessment late in the evening. Dependent on certain test centre closing times, the provision of enhanced additional time may not be possible at some test centres.

Check the Common Registration Assessment permitted items for sittings in 2026 list which specifies the items you are permitted to take into the assessment room without approval from the adjustment panel. 

You do not need to apply for an adjustment if your item is on this list. 

If you want to use an item that is not included on the permitted item list, you will need to complete an adjustment application. 

Give full details of the item in your application form and explain why it will help to remove any disadvantages due to a specific need.

Sole occupancy rooms are limited and only available at some test centres. 

If you have this adjustment granted, but a room is not available at the closest test centre to your home address, you may be offered to:

• sit at an alternative test centre with a sole occupancy room, or
• sit at a nearer centre in a smaller room with fewer trainee pharmacists.

Reasonable adjustment requests are considered by the GPhC’s reasonable adjustments panel, which is made up of members of the Board of Assessors and Adjustment Advisors. Decisions are made I based on the information provided by the trainee pharmacists and whether the requested adjustment(s) is appropriate and practical to implement. 

It is the trainee pharmacist's responsibility to provide all the information required by the specified deadline to allow the panel to make an informed and fair decision. 

Each reasonable application for reasonable adjustment request will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The panel will meet four times in 2026 to review, and make decisions, on requests received. What request they review at each stage will be dependent on when applications are submitted to the GPhC.

We will email trainees an outcome letter to let them know of the decision made. If you are a GPhC trainee, please ensure we have the correct email address for you and make sure that you have agreed to receive essential emails in your myGPhC account preferences.

For Pharmaceutical Society of NI trainees, we will send your outcome letters to the email address provided to us by the Society.

If you are planning to apply for any of the above assessment sittings, you must submit requests as per the dated outlined. We will accept accept applications for future sittings.

The possible outcomes are:

Granted for all sittings

The adjustment will automatically apply for each sitting you are eligible to sit, and up until your registration date limit. You do not need to reapply unless requesting additional or enhanced reasonable adjustments.

Granted for a calendar year only

The adjustment will automatically apply for any sittings within the calendar year period. Your outcome letter will clearly state the expiry date and which sittings this applies to. You will need to reapply for reasonable adjustment(s) for any future sittings after the expiry date.

You will only need to submit a new request if you want to request any additional or enhanced reasonable adjustments during this period. 

Granted for one sitting only

The adjustment will apply for one sitting only. Your outcome letter will clearly state the sitting this applies to.

For future requests you are eligible for, you will need to submit a new reasonable adjustment application.

Partially granted (for one sitting, calendar year or all sittings)

Where the adjustment panel decide to grant only part of a reasonable adjustment request. 

The outcome letter will clearly state which adjustment(s) have been granted and the duration of approval.

We will work with Surpass to make the arrangements needed to accommodate granted adjustment(s). If an adjustment has been granted by the panel, but it cannot be accommodated for any reason, we will contact trainees to discuss the options available.

Not granted

The panel has decided your request does not meet the criteria. The outcome letter will explain the reason(s). You should consider the below:

• whether you are fit to sit without adjustment(s) - being fit to sit means you do not know of any reason why your performance would be adversely affected during the assessment.
• submitting an appeal if you feel you have grounds - you will receive your outcome in time to submit an appeal if needed. The outcome letter will include the appeal deadline and link to the appeal form and guidance. See the 'What are the grounds to appeal?' section for more information.

You may appeal the decision on one of the following grounds: 

• a procedural error occurred that affected the outcome of the decision, and/or
• there is credible evidence that could not have been obtained, or was not known to you, at the time of the application, and which would have had an important influence on the decision. 

You cannot appeal if:

• the evidence was available, or known to you, at the time of the application
• you submitted your application too close to the deadline for your healthcare professional to complete
• you have a new reason for requesting an adjustment that was known at the time
• you are dissatisfied with the duration of the granted adjustment(s).

Appeals submitted for these reasons will be rejected. 

Before making an appeal, make sure you carefully read the guidance and review the grounds for an appeal as appeals will be rejected if they do not meet the grounds.

Download the appeal form and guidance