Looking ahead to 2026/27

As we enter the second year of our 2025-30 corporate strategy, I’m delighted to share with you some of the key projects we are progressing to ensure that we continue to deliver our statutory responsibilities and support registrants to provide effective eye care in the context of national and regional NHS service redesign and ongoing global economic volatility. Our plans build upon the strong foundations laid last year across all areas of the business.   

In 2025 we were delighted to have met all 18 of the Professional Standards Authority’s Standards of Good Regulation for the fourth year in a row, an important assurance to registrants and stakeholders that we are on track as a high-performing regulator to fulfil our mission to protect the public by upholding high standards in eye care services. This would not be possible without the continued support of our stakeholders, members registrants and committed staff team, and as we look ahead, our strategic objectives – creating fairer and more inclusive eye care services; supporting responsible innovation and protecting the public; and preventing harm through agile regulation - continue to guide our future work, firmly focused, as ever, on supporting registrants to uphold high standards of care and ensuring public protection. 

Deliver our statutory responsibilities 

Setting the standards for the performance and conduct of registrants  

Following last year’s update of our Standards for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians, we will begin work to review the Standards for Optical Businesses, including commissioning research, stakeholder engagement and developing proposed changes in preparation for a public consultation, to inform the drafting of final proposals to Council.  

We also plan to consult on proposals to update our 2013 statement on the testing of sight and standard on supervision, making any changes in line with our strategic objective of supporting responsible innovation and protecting the public. 

Approving qualifications leading to registration 

With the introduction of our Education Training Requirements (ETR), we will develop new international registration processes to support applications for registration from professionals qualified overseas. Reflecting the maturity of our education reforms, we continue to receive applications from providers for approval to deliver new qualifications in dispensing optics and optometry, which we will consider in line with our statutory processes, demonstrating the continued attractiveness of dispensing optics and optometry as a career. 

Launching a new and improved MyGOC portal 

This year, we will launch a major upgrade to MyGOC, our key online platform for registrants. The new and improved portal will have a modern look and feel, be device-friendly, and make it easier for registrants to manage their registration with us all in one place, from renewing their registration, making a declaration or transferring to a different register. With a single login, registrants will also be able to easily switch between their personal and business accounts, making it far easier to manage multiple registration accounts.  

Supporting registrants to provide effective eye care 

Reviewing our approach to setting registrant fees  

We have recently launched a discussion paper on how we set registrant fees to improve transparency and ensure financial stability whilst being fair and proportionate to registrants, including those on a low income. 

We want to hear registrants’ views on how we might share the costs of regulation more fairly between the groups of registrants registered with us and explore ways of better supporting all those we regulate in meeting the costs of regulation. You can have your say via our Consultation Hub or by contacting [email protected].  

Using our research to improve outcomes  

The delivery of both NHS and private sector eye care services by optical businesses is an inherent (and positive) feature of our sector. When it operates well, patients benefit through increased innovation, improved quality of care and wider access to services. However, our published research and wider engagement have highlighted that some business practices can pose a risk to patients and potentially put undue pressure on registrants. This year we will publish the final report of our first-ever thematic review on commercial practices and patient safety which will help us understand the nature and extent of business practices, such as the use of commercial targets and incentives, and their impact on patients and the public. The review will identify recommendations for action that either we or the wider sector can take to help support the delivery of safe and effective eye care for all. We also plan this year to scope potential topics for a second thematic review. 

Developing new plans for continuing professional development (CPD)  

We will conclude our consultation on changes to our CDP scheme for 2028 and beyond, to better protect the patients and the public by modernising our CPD requirements towards a more flexible, less prescriptive system that aims to maximises registrants’ ability to undertake learning and development relevant to their professional scope of practice and which supports registrants’ career progression and acquisition of post-registration qualifications. 

Contributing to fairer and more inclusive eye care services and the wider healthcare agenda  

Recognising the importance of user voice  

We will scope proposals for strengthening service user and patient voice across our regulatory functions, which we hope will lead to a better balancing of professional, commercial and user insights in the delivery of our regulatory responsibilities. This will put the needs of patients and the public at the heart of our regulatory decision-making. 

Guidance on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)  

We will improve our understanding of, and keep up to date with developments in, the use of AI in the delivery of eye care services and in regulation and use our enhanced understanding to produce guidance for registrants. Where appropriate, we will deploy AI to achieve internal efficiency gains in our business processes, which will help us keep our costs down and achieve value for money in all that we do. 

Delivering our ambitions  

We have a clear, long-term plan to improve fairness, inclusion and confidence in all our work, and we remain committed implementing our very ambitions equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), action plan in support of our corporate strategy.  We are working hard to build an inclusive workforce and culture that supports fair decision-making, where everyone engaged in our work feels able to contribute, speak up and be supported. Finally, we will continue to operate an efficient, lean, and effective organisation, and hold ourselves accountable for our decision making in our annual reports, which I encourage you to read on our website.