Important update on Foundation Programme 2026 recruitment, Foundation Priority Programmes (FPP) 2026 and F2 Stand-alone 2026 recruitment

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The Government has introduced the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill to prioritise UK medical graduates for foundation programme training and give preference to UK graduates and doctors with significant NHS experience for specialty training. This legislation is now going through Parliament.

Why is this happening?

  • The UK wants to build a sustainable domestic supply of doctors and reduce the NHS’s reliance on international medical graduates.
  • The number of eligible applicants for the Foundation Programme (FP) has grown from 8,137 in 2019 to 11,205 in 2025.
  • The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill intends to implement the commitment set out in the 10 Year Health Plan for England to prioritise UK medical graduates for foundation training places.
  • Prioritisation will help build a sustainable medical workforce that meets population health needs, reduces reliance on an unpredictable international labour market, and maximises taxpayer investment in medical training.

Impact on 2026 applicants

Subject to successful passage of the Bill, changes will apply to current applicants, even though applications for the Foundation Programme 2026 have closed.

Foundation Programme 2026 onwards

The following groups will be prioritised:

  • UK Medical Graduates
  • Applicants with a primary medical qualification from an institution in Ireland
  • Due to European Free Trade Association (EFTA), applicants with a primary medical qualification from an institution in
    • Iceland
    • Principality of Liechtenstein
    • Norway
    • Switzerland

Foundation Priority Programmes (FPP)

To enact the Bill it will no longer be possible to run a separate recruitment process for FPP programmes because the current method of allocation in the recruitment system does not support the new process required for this legislation. FPP programmes for 2026 will be transferred into the main 2026 Foundation Programme vacancy on Oriel and therefore will still be available to applicants to preference and be allocated to at a later stage when main allocation to the Foundation Programme takes place via preference informed allocation. The FPP offers process which was due to take place between 21 January, and 02 February 2026 will now no longer take place.

F2 Stand-alone 2026 (F2SA)

For F2SA, the same groups of applicants as for the Foundation Programme will be prioritised.

What should applicants do?

We would encourage you to look out for further updates on our website which will we share as soon as more detail is available.

Please refer to the NHS England FAQ which provides the information we have so far. As more information is confirmed, the UKFPO will produce more detailed updates as we understand that you will have questions about how this may impact you.

You can read the Government’s announcement here: 

Government to prioritise UK medical graduates for training places – GOV.UK