Doctors: Registration
(asked on 24th February 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the top five most commonly-cited reasons given by doctors for leaving the UK register.
The General Medical Council, as part of their State of Medical Education and Practice Report, publish annual data on the reasons that doctors report to them for relinquishing their licence to practice and or for leaving the professional register.
The following table shows the top five stated reasons for leaving, which are taken from doctor’s applications to give up either their licence or their registration, as a proportion of the total number of leavers for 2024:
Reason for Leaving | Percentage |
Want to practice abroad | 22.6% |
Retirement | 13.2% |
Revalidation requirements | 11.1% |
Want to live abroad | 6.5% |
New career opportunity | 3.5% |
Unspecified or No reason available | 28.0% |
Source: The State of Medical Education and Practice in the UK – Workforce Report 2025, General Medical Council.
In 2024, 16,124 leaver’s applications were assessed, 28.0% of which did not have a recorded reason for leaving.