Our governing Council

The role of our Council is to make sure that the GPhC fulfils its statutory role to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and wellbeing of members of the public by upholding standards and public trust in pharmacy.

Our Council acts as a governing body to make sure that the GPhC is managed effectively and efficiently. For this reason, it operates separately and independently from the Chief Executive and the senior leadership group. The Council is expected to continually challenge our organisation to improve the way we regulate, so that we achieve better outcomes for patients and the public.

GPhC Council members

The Council consists of 14 members equally split between registrant members (pharmacists or pharmacy technicians) and lay members (people who have never been registered as healthcare professionals). This allows the Council to reflect the diversity of the profession and the wider public and to bring in knowledge and experience from both inside and outside pharmacy.

All Council members are appointed and are required to act independently from the government, professionals and all other interest groups.

There are no places reserved on the Council for any of the professions regulated by us, or for specific sectors of practice. We do have reserved places however for at least one member who lives or works mainly, or wholly, in each country within Great Britain. Follow the link above to find out more.

How to become a Council member

Once existing Council members complete their terms of office, we advertise roles on this website, on our social media channels and through any recruitment agency supporting the process. We value diversity and want to promote it on our Council. Follow the link above to find out more.

Council meetings

The way in which the business is conducted at our Council meetings is set out in our standing orders. These important documents help us make sure that meetings run smoothly and that its business is carried out in the most efficient and effective way possibleSee our standing orders [PDF 566 KB]

By clicking on the above heading you can also find out about the dates of the upcoming meetings of our Council which are open to the public. Before each meeting we publish an agenda as well as any relevant papers.

Supporting good governance

Read the key documents that set out our approach to governing our organisation.