Foundation Trainee Pharmacist National Recruitment Scheme
What's happening now (Jan - March) Employer Registration
Employer registration for the 2026-27 foundation training year is now open. Registration closes at 23:59 on 1 March 2025
The main changes to the registration process for 2025 are:
Recruiting via Oriel is the only route for employing a foundation trainee pharmacist for the 2026-27 training year
Terms of Participation have been updated to reflect programme requirements, please read these, in full, prior to registering
There are now 4 employer types; Hospital, Community Pharmacy, GP and Other. These new employer types have been amended on last years programme information.
The documents, and link to NHS England's website, below will support employers with the registration process
National Recruitment Scheme Overview
Complaints Policy
The recruitment and selection process to foundation trainee pharmacist training places aims to have methods that are fair, transparent and free from discrimination.
We publish our recruitment and selection methods within the applicant handbook.
The processes are designed and delivered by the Pharmacy National Recruitment Office (PNRO) working in partnership with local offices of NHS England and Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW). However hard we try to respond to the wishes and aspirations of applicants accessing our recruitment services, we do recognise that, on occasion, our service may fall short of expectations. If you believe this has happened to you, you can use the complaints procedure below, which tells you how to make a complaint and how it will be handled.
Recruitment Timeline
Activity
Month
Applicant handbook available
Mid May
Foundation Pharmacist Training Programme information available on Oriel
6 June 2025
Application window opens
4 June 2025 at 12pm
Application window closes
18 June 2025 at 12pm
Preferencing window opens
23 July 2025
Numeracy/SJT centre booking window opens
30 July 2025
Numeracy/SJT centre booking window closes
13 August 2025
Numeracy/SJT centre Start Date (Pearson VUE Test Centres)
18 September 2025
Numeracy/SJT centre End Date (Pearson VUE Test Centres)
1 October 2025
Preferencing window closes
23 October 2025
First round of offers released
Early November 2025
Offers upgrade deadline
Late November 2025
Programmes commence
July/August 2026
*Please note the date/items are subject to change/TBC