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Pharmacy technicians could become members of the future Royal College of Pharmacy, under proposals published by the UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board (UKPPLAB) and subject to consultation and a special resolution vote of its members.
A statement from UKPPLAB — ‘A new future for pharmacy professional leadership in the UK’, published on 12 February 2026 — has set out recommendations for shaping the future Royal College of Pharmacy, including a “three-stage inclusion process” led by the royal college in collaboration with other organisations.
In a statement published alongside the proposals, UKPPLAB said that the inclusion process could result in a “more inclusive Royal College of Pharmacy by December 2029”.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) is one of eight pharmacy professional leadership bodies and specialist professional groups, along with independent expert members, that form UKPPLAB.
The proposal also includes the addition of pharmacists in Northern Ireland as royal college members.
Specialist professional groups (SPGs) and their members could also become part of the royal college through the proposed creation of a Forum of Specialist Associations.
However, UKPPLAB emphasised that this proposal would require “extensive liaison and collaboration between the royal college and the other professional leadership bodies and specialist professional groups — and engagement and consultation with members”.
It would also be “subject to engagement and consultation with memberships and the wider pharmacy community and to the appropriate governance processes of the organisations involved”.
More details of the proposal will be available in a concordat, which will be published to coincide with the launch of the royal college, the statement said.
Other recommendations in the statement include that the royal college should undertake an engagement exercise on outline proposals for its strategy, shortly after launch, and that it should “explicitly endorse the principles of the ‘Vision and common purpose for pharmacy professional leadership’, to which all the organisations on the board have signed up”.
Sir Hugh Taylor, independent chair of UKPPLAB, said: “[The statement] is a call for action and this is a generational opportunity that must be seized. The challenges facing pharmacy and the wider health system are no respecters of national, professional, sectoral or organisational boundaries.
“The challenge to professional leadership in pharmacy is to come together to support pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in their practice to keep improving health and health services for patients and the public, and to develop and thrive as professionals. Get it right and the Royal College of Pharmacy has the potential to transform the landscape of pharmacy professional leadership in the UK and to ensure pharmacy looks confidently to the future.”
In a joint statement, Paul Bennett and Claire Anderson, chief executive and president of the RPS, respectively, said: “[The RPS applauds] Sir Hugh and the UKPPLAB for their ambition and commitment to fostering a unified and inclusive future for pharmacy professional leadership.
“RPS members — and those of Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) and other specialist pharmacy groups which are part of the board and may have pharmacy technicians in membership — must have the opportunity to explore these proposals in a meaningful way, particularly the proposed inclusion of pharmacy technicians as members of the royal college.
“Decisions about the future must be based on discussion, consultation and trust, and — in the case of RPS — any proposals to change the criteria for full membership would require a positive special resolution vote by the membership of the RPS and future royal college,” Anderson added.
Read more: Sir Hugh Taylor: ‘We’d like to do ourselves out of a job as quickly as possible’
