Press Round-Up: Regulatory and Professional Discipline – May 2026

Healthcare

1. General Medical Council (GMC)

The Department of Health and Social Care has opened a consultation on proposed reforms to the General Medical Council’s (GMC) legislative framework. The consultation seeks views on draft legislation – the General Medical Council Order 2026 – which would replace much of the existing Medical Act 1983 and provide a modernised statutory footing for the regulation of doctors and physician associates.

The draft order introduces changes across four key areas: governance, education and training, registration, and fitness to practise. Among other reforms, it would give the GMC greater flexibility to set standards, approve training, and adapt registration requirements, alongside measures intended to deliver faster and more proportionate fitness to practise processes. The consultation also seeks views on implementing recommendations from recent reviews, including changes to professional titles and enhanced transparency and oversight in regulatory decision-making.

The consultation will run for a statutory three-month period before any draft legislation is laid before the UK and Scottish Parliaments. Following the consultation, the final Order will be subject to the affirmative procedure, requiring parliamentary debate and approval before coming into force. Stakeholders, including professionals, employers, and members of the public, are encouraged to respond, with the outcome expected to shape future reforms across other healthcare regulators as part of a broader modernisation programme.  

Responses can be submitted via an online survey until 23 June 2026.

2. General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)

The GPhC has publicised a speech given by its new Chief Executive, Kathie Cashell, who assumed her role in March.  In a speech to the Clinical Pharmacy Congress in May, Ms Cashell outlined her expectation that the GPhC would shift from being perceived as a “pay and punish” body, towards a model that works collaboratively with pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.   

Ms Cashell acknowledged the changing role of pharmacy teams, with expanding clinical responsibilities requiring regulation that enables professional judgement and continuous improvement. The GPhC also aims to share learning from inspections and reviews to support safe, high‑quality care.

The regulator has committed to improving the fairness and timeliness of fitness to practise processes, noting that only a small proportion of concerns lead to investigations or serious sanctions. Overall, it aims to be more transparent, accountable and trusted, while continuing to engage closely with professionals, patients and stakeholders.

3. Cross-sector statement by health and social care regulators on anti-racism principles

Nine regulators – the Care Quality Commission, General Medical Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council , Health and Care Professions Council, Social Work England, General Optical Council, General Pharmaceutical Council, General Chiropractic Council and the General Osteopathic Council – have joined the NHS Race and Health Observatory to sign up to a set of anti-racism principles aimed at tackling racism experienced by health and social care staff.

The nine principles build on earlier work by the NHS Race and Health Observatory and follow a series of stakeholder engagements, including a regulatory roundtable and subsequent report examining workforce race equality. The principles emphasise themes such as leadership, collaboration, improved data and insight, and the effective use of regulatory powers. They also focus on increasing transparency, strengthening accountability, and promoting greater engagement with those with lived experience. Collectively, the regulators have indicated an intention to use their influence to drive systemic change, improve diversity in leadership, and address disparities in regulatory processes, including fitness to practise outcomes.

The principles are expected to be reviewed annually, with further organisations anticipated to join the initiative over time. Regulators have framed this as a long-term commitment requiring sustained action, with a particular emphasis on embedding anti-racism within organisational culture, policy-making and regulatory decision-making across the health and social care system.

4. Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has announced an overhaul after it was discovered that the full health and character assessment process has not been followed for many years.  In a press release published on the NMC website, the regulator explained that a member of staff had come forward to raise concerns about the historical failure of the regulator to follow the full process for investigating health and character concerns declared as part of the registration and revalidation process.  A subsequent investigation had determined applications which included health and character declarations were reviewed by the specialist team, but not consistently referred to an Assistant Registrar, in line with the NMC’s stated process.

 

LEGAL

5. Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

The SRA has published new data highlighting that reports of potential misconduct and the number of investigations being undertaken continue to increase significantly.  In the six months to April 2026, the SRA reviewed 8,955 reports of potential misconduct, representing a 58% increase compared with the same period two years earlier. This equates to an average of 1,493 reports per month.

The cause of the increase in reports – which has been seen across a variety of regulators in different sectors – is not entirely clear.  An article in the Law Gazette shared the widely held view that generative AI may be at the root of the increase, but its exact role is not fully understood.

The SRA advised that it had diverted resources internally to deal with the increase in reports, but also proposed wide-ranging changes in its draft 2026/27 Business Plan as part of its long-term plan to deal with the problem.  The Business Plan is out for consultation until 22 June 2026.

 

FINANCIAL

6. Financial Reporting Council (FRC)

The FRC published the findings of its latest review of structured digital reporting by UK listed companies. The review examined a sample of annual reports for 2024/25, and found that while structured digital reporting is now widely adopted and most companies produce compliant filings, recurring and largely avoidable errors continue to limit the usefulness of the data for investors and other stakeholders.

The FRC identified a number of common areas for improvement, including the need for more robust review processes, clearer allocation of responsibility for tagging, and better use of existing guidance and tools. It noted that ensuring tags accurately reflect the underlying accounting meaning is critical to improving data reliability and usability.

The FRC confirmed that it will continue to support preparers through guidance, taxonomies and targeted reviews, while encouraging improvements in accessibility, timeliness and the availability of structured reports in formats that can be readily used by investors and automated systems.

7. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

The FCA published a review of firms’ sanctions systems and controls, highlighting both good and poor practice against a backdrop of increasingly complex and fast-evolving UK sanctions regimes. The review emphasises that sanctions risk has grown significantly in recent years due to geopolitical developments and the expanding scope of restrictive measures, placing greater pressure on firms to ensure that their controls remain effective, responsive and proportionate to the risks they face.

The FCA identified examples of strong practice where firms had embedded sanctions risk as a core component of their financial crime framework, supported by clear senior management accountability and regular board engagement. In these cases, firms demonstrated well-developed and dynamic risk assessments that were aligned to their business models and exposure, alongside screening systems that were appropriately calibrated and subject to periodic testing and refinement.

However, the FCA also found significant weaknesses in a number of firms that undermined the effectiveness of their controls. These included governance structures where responsibility for sanctions risk was unclear or insufficiently prioritised, as well as risk assessments that were overly generic or outdated and therefore failed to reflect current geopolitical risks.

A full copy of the review has been published on the FCA website.

 

BUILT ENVIRONMENT

8. Architects Registration Board (ARB)

The Architects Registration Board (ARB) has announced a new Registration Assurance Process (RAP) to modernise how architects join and remain on the register, due to take effect from spring 2027. The reforms shift further towards a competence‑based approach, aligning with updated academic and practice outcomes and removing the requirement for a recognised Part 1 qualification in future routes.

The changes form part of wider regulatory reforms, including a new competence‑based examination and updated readiness-for-practice requirements. The ARB says consultation feedback showed strong support for proportionate checks on competence, reinforcing its aim to maintain public protection while improving flexibility in routes to registration.

Full details of the changes have been published on the ARB website.