The criteria sets out the education, training and experience you need to complete to register as a pharmacy technician.
To practice as a pharmacy technician in Great Britain, you need to register with us and meet our requirements for education, training and experience.
As a pharmacy technician, you’ll work under the supervision of the pharmacist to ensure the safe running of the pharmacy and make sure patients get the most from their medicines.
If you want to practise as a pharmacy technician in England, Scotland or Wales, it is a legal requirement to be registered.
You also need to complete a certain level of education, training and experience in the United Kingdom (even if you have qualified in another country) to register as a pharmacy technician. When you renew your registration with us each year, you need to complete a declaration statement that you meet all our standards for pharmacy professionals.
To practise as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, you need to have professional indemnity insurance in place that covers you for any risks associated with your area of work.
Find out more about appropriate indemnity cover
To register as a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician, you need to have the necessary knowledge of English to practice safely and effectively.
Find out about language requirements
Registration criteria
Pharmacy technicians with Swiss nationality
The UK and Switzerland are party to the Citizens’ Rights Agreement, which allows Swiss nationals to apply for registration with us, and for the applicant and any dependents or spouses, with acquired rights in Switzerland, to live in the UK.
The Citizens' Right Agreement ends on 31 December 2024.
If you are a Swiss national and want to apply to join the GPhC register as a pharmacy technican, please email international@pharmacyregulation.org.
EEA-EFTA country- qualified pharmacy technicians
If you qualified in an EEA-EFTA country (Iceland, Lichtenstein or Norway), we will review your qualification, ID and supporting documents.
If we think that your qualification may not be comparable to a UK pharmacy technician qualification, we may require you to complete reasonable and proportionate next steps.
For example, you may be required to complete a self-assessment to demonstrate where you have met the equivalent of UK learning outcomes in your education and training.
Having reviewed your self-assessment, we may determine that you would need to complete an adaptation period such as workplace training, and/or pass an aptitude test (exam), before we can recognise your pharmacy technician qualification.
For more information, email international@pharmacyregulation.org.