eGDCPSA review recognises GDC's strong performance in registration and education
The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) annual review for 2024/25 found that we met 16 out of 18 Standards of Good Regulation.
While progress was made across multiple regulatory functions, we did not meet the standards for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and fitness to practise (FtP) timeliness.
The review assessed our performance in regulating 129,578 dental professionals across the UK from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025.
Standards met
We met all four Standards for Registration and all four Standards for Education and Training, demonstrating strong performance in these critical areas of regulation.
Tom Whiting, Chief Executive and Registrar of the General Dental Council (GDC), said:
"We are pleased that the PSA has recognised our strong performance across 16 out of 18 standards, particularly our achievements in registration and education and training, where we met all standards.
“We acknowledge the areas where further work is needed and remain committed to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion across all our regulatory activities while actively working to address the concerns raised about our fitness to practise timeliness.”
In registration, our key achievements include clearing the backlog of overseas Dental Care Professional (DCP) applications that had impacted performance in recent years, resulting in sustained improvements in processing times for international graduates.
We successfully manage risks from illegal practice in a proportionate manner and have made improvements to our continuing professional development requirements, simplifying documentation to make it easier for registrants to comply.
We have also taken steps to address capacity challenges with the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE), completing a three-year procurement process for a new provider that will deliver increased capacity for both parts of the exam from mid-2026.
In education and training, we published revised Standards for Education (effective from 2026/27) following consultation, adding new requirements on monitoring behaviours, technological advances, differential attainment, and staff and student wellbeing. We also completed the transition of education providers to the Safe Practitioner Framework and published new guidance for education providers seeking to establish new dental schools.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Standard 3): The GDC did not meet this Standard, however the PSA recognised that we have made notable progress in strengthening its approach to EDI this year, including the establishment of a clear EDI governance structure, oversight and reporting arrangements across the organisation, and the publication of a clear EDI action plan.
The PSA highlighted examples of good practice, including the introduction of priority booking for refugees on the Overseas Registration Exam and improvements to the identification and support of whistleblowers.
Fitness to Practise Timeliness (Standard 15): Despite measures to improve timeliness, the number of cases older than three years has increased. Many older cases are awaiting third-party decisions including court dates in criminal prosecutions, outcomes of criminal proceedings, or conclusions of police investigations.
The PSA recognised positive developments in our fitness to practise processes, including the extension of the Initial Inquiries process, achieving a median completion time of 13 weeks compared to the 30-week performance target. The GDC also plans to increase hearing capacity from five to seven hearings per day from January 2026.
The Professional Standards Authority’s Performance Review can be viewed here.