Doctors who face a criminal matter tend to ask two questions in the same breath. Do I have to tell the GMC about a caution or conviction, and when? The answers are written down, and they are stricter than many doctors expect. A doctor who reports late or not at all turns a minor offence into a question about honesty. And the GMC treats honesty as central to fitness to practise.

The duty in Good medical practice

Paragraph 99 of Good medical practice, the version in force since 30 January 2024, sets out the core duty. You must tell the GMC without delay if you have accepted a caution or its equivalent from a prosecuting authority. The duty applies wherever in the world the event happens. The same applies if you have been charged with a criminal offence, in person or by post. It also applies if you have been found guilty of a criminal offence. The paragraph also covers criticism by an official inquiry and a finding against your registration by another professional body.

Paragraph 99 gives no number of days. Without delay means as soon as the event happens. It does not mean once you have taken advice for a month or seen how the case goes.

The fuller list in the reporting guidance

The GMC's guidance on reporting criminal and regulatory proceedings forms part of the professional standards. It spells out what counts. You must report if you:

  • are found guilty of, or charged with, a criminal offence
  • formally admit an offence, for example by accepting a caution, a community resolution order, a discretionary disposal in Northern Ireland or a fiscal fine in Scotland. Entering a contractual disclosure facility with HM Revenue and Customs also counts, since it involves admitting fraud
  • accept a penalty notice for disorder at the upper tier in England and Wales, or a penalty notice under the Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2011
  • receive a cannabis warning in England and Wales
  • receive an anti-social behaviour order, whether in civil or criminal proceedings
  • have another regulator restrict your registration or find you guilty of an offence
  • contributed by your conduct, including as part of a management team, to an organisation entering a deferred prosecution agreement.

Criticism by an official inquiry is reportable where it concerns serious matters that call your fitness to practise into question. The guidance names a coroner's inquest among its examples. Judicial criticism in civil or criminal proceedings stands on the same footing. That covers criticism you know of or ought to know of.

What you need not report

The guidance excludes a penalty notice for disorder below the upper tier and a fixed penalty for a road traffic offence. It also excludes a fixed penalty that a local authority issues for matters such as noise. An arrest or a police interview on its own is not on the list. Your employer's rules are a separate matter. Paragraph 10 of the guidance tells you to follow any reporting requirements your employing or contracting organisation sets. So read your contract and the organisation's policy, because some set a wider duty than the GMC's.

A caution is an admission

The police sometimes offer doctors a caution as a quick way to close a matter. Yet the reporting guidance treats accepting a caution as formally admitting the offence. The GMC's guidance for case examiners says there is a presumption of referral to a tribunal for cautions, as for non custodial convictions. In some cases, though, a warning will be the proportionate response. Some doctors accept a caution at the police station in the hope that the matter goes away. That caution can end in a hearing about your registration. Take advice from someone who understands both systems before you sign.

How the GMC treats a conviction

Where a conviction carries a custodial sentence, the GMC's rules require the Registrar to refer it straight to a tribunal. In 2023, the Registrar referred 21 doctors to a tribunal in that way, against 23 in 2022. Rule 34(3) of the GMC (Fitness to Practise) Rules 2004 makes a court's certificate of conviction conclusive evidence of the offence. The tribunal will not rehear the criminal case, so any argument about guilt belongs in the criminal court. Instead, the regulatory case turns on what the conviction says about you now: insight, remediation and risk.

The figures for 2025 show how central this work is to the tribunals. More than 90 per cent of the cases heard that year involved misconduct, criminal convictions or both.

The police may tell the GMC first

Common Law Police Disclosure replaced the Notifiable Occupations Scheme in 2015. Under it, the police may pass information to an employer or a regulator. They may do so where there is a pressing social need to protect the public. The main trigger for considering a disclosure is arrest or interview as a suspect for a recordable offence. If the GMC hears of a charge from the police before it hears from you, you will have a question to answer about why.

What to do this week

If you face a charge or have accepted a caution, write to the GMC now. Give the facts and the court date if there is one, with no argument about the merits. Keep a copy. Then tell your responsible officer and any organisation for which you work if its rules require it. When I advise a doctor at this stage, the aim is a short, accurate notification. It should read well a year later in front of a case examiner.

If you are a nurse, dentist, pharmacist or other healthcare professional

Each code sets out a duty to tell your regulator. Paragraph 23.2 of the NMC Code requires you to tell the NMC and any employer as soon as you can about certain events. They are any caution or charge, a conditional discharge or a finding of guilt, other than a protected caution or conviction. Standard 9.3 of the GDC's standards requires you to inform the GDC immediately if you are subject to criminal proceedings anywhere in the world. Standard 9.5 of the HCPC's standards requires you to tell the HCPC as soon as possible if you accept a caution. The same duty arises if you are charged with or found guilty of an offence.

Under the Opticians Act 1989, a conviction or caution is a ground of impairment. Under the Osteopaths Act 1993 and the Chiropractors Act 1994, a UK conviction is a ground of impairment. There the Investigating Committee may find no case to answer if the offence has no material relevance to fitness to practise. See our pages for each profession.

Eloquia's fixed fee for responding to a GMC concern at triage is £2,500 plus VAT. It includes the specialist barrister who works with you from the outset, and we quote expert fees separately. Where a criminal case is running, our criminal defence partner acts in it and we run the GMC side alongside, as our page on GMC investigations explains.

Sources

  1. Good medical practice 2024, Domain 4: Trust and professionalism, paragraph 99, GMC
  2. Reporting criminal and regulatory proceedings within and outside the UK, GMC
  3. Guidance for case examiners: making decisions on cases at the end of the investigation stage, GMC, paragraphs 12 and 80
  4. Fitness to practise statistics 2023, GMC, paragraph 16
  5. General Medical Council (Fitness to Practise) Rules Order of Council 2004, Schedule, rule 34(3)
  6. Common Law Police Disclosure, Home Office (2015)
  7. Common Law Police Disclosures: provisions to supersede the Notifiable Occupations Scheme, NPCC (2017)
  8. Concerns about fitness to practise: annual statistical report 2025, GMC
  9. The Code, NMC (paragraph 23.2)
  10. GDC: Standards for the Dental Team (standard 9.3)
  11. HCPC: Standards of conduct, performance and ethics (standard 9.5)
  12. Opticians Act 1989, section 13D (grounds)
  13. Osteopaths Act 1993, section 20 (allegations and the Investigating Committee)
  14. Chiropractors Act 1994, section 20 (allegations and the Investigating Committee)