The offer includes more training jobs, faster pay progression and a plan to cover expenses like examination fees. You can find information on the full offer here.
The College is keen to provide information about how we can support doctors in England with their employer’s reimbursement process that has been agreed between the government and the BMA.
This guidance will be kept under review and may be subject to change as more details emerge.
Examination fees
For every resident doctor and locally employed doctor (LED) in England, the first 2 attempts of each Royal College exam will now be funded by the government through reimbursement from their employer. These also include relevant dental exams for dentists and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery trainees, but it is not yet clear if this includes Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology examinations.
These will be reimbursed for examinations attempted after 1 April 2026. This excludes the spring 2026 FRCPath Part 1 and Certificate examinations that took place in March 2026 but includes the FRCPath Part 2 examinations, which took place in April 2026.
Click below to see which examinations are likely to be eligible for reimbursement from 1 April 2026:
Exams eligible for reimbursement from 1 April 2026
FRCPath Part 1
- Clinical Biochemistry
- Haematology
- Histopathology
- Immunology and Allergy
- Medical Microbiology and Virology
Certificate examinations
- Certificate of Higher Cervical Cytology Training (CHCCT)
- Certificate of Higher Autopsy Training (CHAT)
- Combined Infection Certificate Examination (CICE)
- Allergy and Clinical Immunology Certificate Examination (ACICE)
FRCPath Part 2
- Clinical Biochemistry
- Forensic Pathology
- Haematology
- Histopathology
- Immunology and Allergy
- Medical Microbiology
- Medical Virology
- Neuropathology
- Paediatric Pathology
Diploma
- Dermatopathology
- Forensic Pathology
RCPath membership subscriptions
Membership subscriptions for all Royal Colleges, including the Royal College of Pathologists, will be covered for resident doctors and for LEDs from April 2027. This is likely to include the following membership fees:
- trainee registration
- diplomate
- fellow
- affiliate.
Where resident doctors require multiple Royal College memberships, all membership subscriptions will be covered.
Portfolio fees
The government will cover portfolio fees for doctors in England from April 2027.
If you are a resident doctor, your portfolio fee is included in your trainee registration fee (please see above). If you are an LED and you pay to use the Learning Environment for Pathology Trainees (LEPT) system to collect evidence for a Portfolio Pathway application, you can reclaim your fee from your employer if you pay it after 1 April 2027.
Applying for fee reimbursement
Eligible doctors in England will need to pay their College fees as normal and then apply for reimbursement through their employer. The College will not directly fund or refund your examination, membership or portfolio fees.
We advise that you collect and/or keep receipts for your fees to ensure that you have the necessary evidence to reimburse your fees. You can request receipts from the ‘Transaction history’ page in your member portal on the College website.
Click on ‘Email receipt’ for the payment(s) you would like receipt(s) for. A PDF copy of the receipt will be sent to your email address. This may take a few minutes to arrive.
If the emailed receipt doesn't arrive after a few minutes, please check your junk folder. If it isn't there and you are using an NHS email address, please speak to your IT department and ask them to add rcpath.org email addresses to a safe list.
If you have any questions on these changes or want to speak to the College, please get in touch with the appropriate team:
- Examinations: [email protected]
- LEPT system: [email protected]
- Membership: [email protected]
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