Here you can find some of the frequently asked questions about the organisation becoming the Royal College of Pharmacy in April 2026.

If you have any further questions, please contact [email protected] 

1. Useful definitions 

Royal Charter

This is a document issued by the monarch, which has the effect of creating a legal entity, similar to a limited company but reporting to the Privy Council rather than Companies House. The organisation was established by a Royal Charter in 1843, which was amended in 2010 when we demerged from GPhC. You can read our current Royal Charter here. 

Privy Council Office

The Privy Council Office represents the monarch’s public duties in various ways including the exercise of the administration activities around Royal Charters. They are the official office that dealt with our proposals to change our Royal Charter. 

Charity Commission

The Charity Commission is the government body that reviews and grants applications for charitable status and checks that registered charities deliver their charitable objectives for the public good. 

OSCR

OSCR is the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, which performs the same function of the Charity Commission in Scotland. 

Charity

A charity is an organisation that exists to advance the public benefit in some way. It is usually an independent legal entity with a constitution (for example, a Royal Charter) that specifies its ‘charitable objectives’. In the case of the College, this public benefit is achieved by supporting professionals to deliver excellence in practice and patient care. 

A charity is run by a ‘Board of Trustees’, who are volunteers who safeguard the charitable objectives and ensure that the charity’s funds are all applied towards achieving those objectives.A charity can have a structure with multiple levels of involvement and engagement including advisory boards and members as long as this advances a wider public benefit.

Charities are regulated (see above) and must comply with clearly defined governance and financial reporting requirements. 

Trading subsidiary

A trading subsidiary is a company incorporated through Companies House where its shares are owned by the parent charity. It has its own ‘Board of Directors’ who make day to day decisions about operational and strategic direction, and usually at least one Director comes from the parent charity.

Although operationally independent, the profits from the trading subsidiary are given back to the parent charity and the trading subsidiary usually also has an agreement with the parent charity about using things like shared staff, premises, payroll services etc. A trading subsidiary can do things that don’t technically advance the parent charity’s public benefit, like selling products and services or advertising, but which make profits that the charity can then use for those charitable purposes. 

Royal college

A royal college is an organisation incorporated by a Royal Charter that has been permitted to call itself a royal college with the permission of the Privy Council and the approval of the monarch. Health and medical royal colleges are professional leadership bodies that typically focus on education, assessment and credentialing and on continuing professional development, as well as the setting of standards and guidance and advocating for the benefit of the public, patients and the profession. 

Professional leadership body

Champions and advances a profession or discipline, elevating professional standards, promoting professional development, setting ethical guidelines and advocating through policy and practice changes.  

Trade union

Represents the interests of a specified group or groups of workers regarding employment rights and promotes the interests of the workers it represents through collective bargaining (in pharmacy this would include PDA, GHP).

Trade body

Also known as a trade association, business association, or industry body, is an organisation founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry (in pharmacy this would include NPA, CCA).

Regulator 

‘Regulator’ is a defined term in the Professional Qualifications Act. Regulators carry out a range of functions in relation to the professions they regulate, including making sure individuals have the necessary qualifications and/or experience to practise the profession and taking any necessary enforcement action. In pharmacy the regulator is the GPhC and is responsible forsetting and enforcing standards of practice to protect the public by overseeing pharmacy professionals’ conduct and competence. In pharmacy membership of the regulator GPhC is compulsory for both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. 

Negotiating body

Focuses on negotiating contractual terms of service (normally with government). In pharmacy the negotiator for the community sector is country-specific CPE, CPW, CPS. 

2. What these changes mean for members

What will my new post-nominals be? 

All members now have new post-nominals that clearly specify membership of the Royal College of Pharmacy. The table below outlines how these have changed, and what your post-nominal is now, depending on your membership type. All members should now be using their RCPharm post-nominal (and no longer their RPS post-nominal). 

Type of membership	RPS post-nominal	RCPharm post-nominal
Member	MRPharmS	MRCPharm
Fellow	FRPharmS	FRCPharm
Pharmaceutical Scientist	SRPharmS	SRCPharm
Associate	ARPharmS	ARCPharm

For members who were previously RPS Faculty members, the Faculty post-nominals have not changed and can continue to be used alongside your new RCPharm post-nominal. 

Have the membership categories changed? 

No, although we have taken the opportunity to tidy up some of the lack of clarity that used to exist between the old Charter and Regulations about Associate Members. The new Royal Charter more clearly articulates that Associate Members do not hold the same status as full Members. The College is able to create new categories of full Members, but a Special Resolution Vote would be required in order to do this.  

Is the professional membership tax break still available now that the organisation is a royal college and a charity? 

The professional membership tax deduction for individuals working in the pharmaceutical sector is still available (either in their own self-assessment tax return or as a tax-free benefit if paid by their employers) now that the organisation is a charity. This is however on the basis that Gift Aid cannot be claimed. In addition, professional indemnity insurance is deductible for individuals in practice. 

Why do you now have a trustee board? 

Now that we are a registered charity, we must have a trustee board. The Board of Trustees will ensure the College is operated in accordance with our Royal Charter obligations, charity law and the requirements of England and Wales (the Charity Commission) and Scotland (regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, OSCR). 

The role of a charity trustee board is to provide overall governance, strategic direction and legal oversight, ensuring the charity effectively serves its charitable mission and public benefit. In the case of the College this public benefit is achieved by supporting professionals to deliver excellence in practice and patient care. 

3. What these changes mean to those outside of the organisation

What does this mean for your relationship with the charity Pharmacist Support? 

We are committed to strengthening the partnership with Pharmacist Support. The intention, both now and into the future, is for the Royal College of Pharmacy to deliver object 31(c) by supporting and working in partnership with the independent charity Pharmacist Support in delivering its vital work. Read our joint statement with Pharmacist Support.   

What does this mean for your relationship with pharmacy technicians? 

We recognise and respect the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) as the professional leadership body for pharmacy technicians in the UK. 

While the relationship between us and pharmacy technicians has not been part of these changes, we have said that we are open to a future discussion with APTUK as the professional leadership body for pharmacy technicians about ways we can come together in terms of professional leadership, and with an understanding of pharmacy technicians as fellow pharmacy professionals under the same regulator. 

Discussions between the two professional bodies (the Royal College of Pharmacy and APTUK), would therefore be the starting point for any professional conversations in the future. 

In addition, it would also be vital to ensure the support of members of both organisations for any proposed future change. It is not for us to seek to impose a decision on either the membership of another organisation or indeed our own members, without appropriate consultation, discussion, and agreement. 

Any discussions held in the future would need to be collaborative and involve appropriate consultation and agreement on all sides. And whilst we are aware that other pharmacy specialist interest groups are interested in deepening their relationship with us, we have not enacted any such change as part of our proposals to becoming the Royal College of Pharmacy as it is a matter for collaborative discussion. In the meantime, we are keen to continue to build relationships and work more closely with APTUK and pharmacy specialist interest groups in terms of future opportunities. 

Can you clarify what will happen to any references made to RPS in legislation (e.g. Regulation 41 and 45AB of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012/1916 regarding operation of the Qualified Persons Scheme)? 

There are a number of places where legislation refers to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, either because of its historic position as the pharmacy regulatory body before 2010 or because of current legislative duties, such as operation of the Qualified Persons Scheme. As part of the process of updating the Royal Charter with the Privy Council Office, the government has been notified of the need to update the relevant legislation to refer to the Royal College of Pharmacy where the relevant obligations are continuing. In some situations, such as Regulation 12, 19 and 21 of the Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) (Wales) Regulations 2008/3239 these powers will now be under the GPhC in any case. 

Will you continue to assess candidates as Qualified Persons? 

Yes, this continues in the same way as it did when we were the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).  

The Royal College of Pharmacy (formerly the RPS), the Royal Society of Biology and Royal Society of Chemistry (the Joint Professional Bodies or JPB) are required by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate to certify individuals as eligible for nomination as a Qualified Person (QP).  

Legislation refers to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in respect of the operation of the Qualified Persons Scheme. As part of the process of updating the Royal Charter with the Privy Council Office, the government has been notified of the need to update the relevant legislation to refer to the Royal College of Pharmacy. 

4. Feedback on the proposed Regulations for the College

In February 2026 draft full Regulations for the College were published and shared, together with a summary document. Members and fellows were invited to share their feedback by the end of March 2026. The following FAQs were published at this time, in response to the feedback we received.  

What feedback did you receive from members on the proposed Regulations for the royal college? 

We received a relatively small number of comments from members and fellows on the proposed Regulations. The feedback we received was constructive, including some helpful clarifications regarding terminology. 

We received a number of more general comments about encouraging more pharmacists to become members, membership fees and how the College’s status will impact the professional frameworks. These comments have been noted, but are unrelated to the Regulations. 

We have amended clause 2.7.1.1 to avoid use of acronyms. 

What comments did you receive about membership and what changes did this lead to? 

Paragraph 2.1.2 was amended to make it clearer that anyone registered with RPSGB, prior to the demerger and formation of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), would be eligible for membership. 

We received feedback about clarity on widening eligibility for full membership in future. As set out in the Royal Charter, the Board of Trustees can decide to update, amend, or add to the criteria to become an Associate Member, but a Special Resolution Vote would remain as a requirement to change the criteria to become a full Member. More information on this can be found here. 

As this is already clear in the Charter, no changes to the Regulations are required to prohibit or control changes to criteria to become a full Member in future — full membership of the College remains limited to those who are registered or formerly registered as pharmacists unless or until any further categories are added by a Special Resolution Vote of the existing (full) members all as set out in Article 6 of the amended Charter. 

It was suggested that we might consider long service awards for long-standing members (50+ years). While this isn’t something we want to implement as part of the scope of the current changes it is noted as something that could be considered by the College in future. 

What feedback did you receive about the College’s governance bodies and what changes did this lead to? 

We received some general questions about the College becoming a charity, the Royal Charter, and the role and workings of the trustee board.  

We received feedback that it should be clearer that elected members need to be (full) members to stand for election and remain members during their term of office. This has been clarified in paragraph 2.2.2. 

We were asked to consider amending the criteria for eligibility to stand for election to Council to include those who are not on the GPhC Register. It is Assembly’s intention that those sitting on Councils have recent experience of working as pharmacists and so the requirement remains unchanged. 

We also received some questions about eligibility to stand for election, terms of election, and representation from different professional backgrounds on elected Councils. Assembly noted comments about sectoral places among elected bodies, but has decided not to include this as a requirement in the Regulations for now. This is something that could be changed in future, if deemed necessary, via a change to the Regulations. 

More information about College elections and terms of office can be found here. 

What other feedback did you receive that didn’t lead to changes in the Regulations? 

We have not amended the Template Special Resolution Vote Scheme in appendix 4 as this detail is contained in our Charter. 

We received feedback on the threshold for raising a Special General Meeting (SGM). Following research across a range of royal colleges and the Charity Commission, we are satisfied the threshold aligns the Royal College of Pharmacy with the practice of other royal colleges. 

It was noted that there is a gap between the Charter and the Regulations in terms of UK versus GB at present. This is because we do not want to step into the space currently the domain of the PSNI. If there were to be any arrangement with PSNI in future, the wording of the Charter allows this to happen without further (costly and lengthy) Charter change.