First-year student information hub

We are the regulator for the optical professions in the UK. We currently register around 33,000 optometrists, dispensing opticians, student optometrists and dispensing opticians, and optical businesses.

We have four core functions:

• Setting standards for the performance and conduct of our registrants.
• Approving qualifications leading to registration.
• Maintaining a register of individuals who are fit to practise or train as optometrists or dispensing opticians, and bodies corporate who are fit to carry on business as optometrists or dispensing opticians.
• Investigating and acting where registrants’ fitness to practise, train or carry on business may be impaired.

We hold registers for optometrists, dispensing opticians, student optometrists and dispensing opticians, specialty practitioners, and bodies corporate conducting business in optometry or dispensing optics in the UK.

All individuals and businesses registered with us are known as our registrants.

You can search our registers for a registered individual (optometrist, dispensing optician, or student) or businesses.

By law, students on a GOC-approved training course in optometry or dispensing optics must be registered with us. Students work with patients and the public throughout their course of study and any patient a student treats needs to be protected in case there is a problem.

Each year, you will need to renew your registration in order to continue your training. You can do this through your MyGOC account. The registration year runs from 1 September to 31 August and the annual renewal fee is due by 15 July each year.

Further information

Watch the video below for more information.

Contact information

If you have any questions regarding your registration or the registration process, our team is available to help on registration@optical.org. 

Our Standards define the standards of behaviour and performance we expect of all registered student optometrists and student dispensing opticians.

You are professionally responsible for what you do or do not do. You must use your own professional judgement, with the support of your training provider or supervisor, to determine how to achieve these standards.

To help, we have provided additional information about what we expect of you under each Standard. We also produce supplementary guidance for a small number of Standards, where we feel registrants may need additional support.

New Standards for Optical Students (effective from 1 January 2025)

Following a period of consultation and feedback, we have reviewed and updated our current Standards for Optical Students. These changes came into effect on 1^st January 2025.

The revised Standards reflect developments in practise, such as the increased use of digital technologies and the changing expectations of patients and the public. Read our updated Standards for Optical Students.

Further information

Watch the video below for more information about the updated Standards.

Supplementary guidance

We have produced guidance on a range of topics to aid you in your training and practise. Click on the links below to learn more: 

• Speaking up
• Professional duty of candour
• Consent
• Disclosing confidential information
• Position statements and useful information

Contact information

If you have any questions about the standards or supporting guidance, our team is available to help on standards@optical.org. 

As the optical regulator, we have a duty to approve and quality assure all qualifications that lead to registration with the GOC as an optometrist or dispensing optician. 

In March 2021, we introduced updated education and training requirements (ETR) for GOC-approved qualifications for: 

• Optometry and dispensing optics
• Additional supply, supplementary prescribing, and/or independent prescribing categories 
• Contact lens opticians 

These replace the previous Education Quality Assurance Handbooks for optometry (2015) and ophthalmic dispensing (2011), Independent Prescribing Handbook (2008), and Contact Lens Handbook (2007). The new requirements ensure all optical professionals are equipped to deliver eye care services in a rapidly changing landscape and meet the needs of patients in the future.

Further information

We have produced an animated video, infographic, and FAQs which provide more detailed information about our education function and the ETR.

• Key changes to our education and training requirements infographic
• Education and training requirements FAQs

Contact information

If you have any questions about our education function, our team is available to help on education@optical.org. 

It is our job to investigate and act when we receive information or concerns which call in to question a registrant’s fitness to train, practise, or run a GOC-registered business. 

Anyone can raise a concern with us. We receive concerns from members of the public, patients, carers, employers, the police, and other GOC registrants.   

Any concerns received are assessed against our Standards which define the behaviour and performance that are expected of registrants. As students, it is particularly important that you are familiar with our Standards for Optical Students.  

Statistics – how many students face hearings each year?

The GOC currently has around 31,000 individual registrants (excluding body corporates). We hope you’ll be reassured to know that in 2023-24 only 34 (0.1%) individuals appeared before a hearing, and none of them were student optometrists or student dispensing opticians. 

The figures below show the total number of students who attended hearings between 2020 and 2024, and the outcomes. As you can see, it is a tiny proportion of the circa 6,100 student registrants we have on our register.  

Further information

The animated video and links below provide more information about our fitness to practise function. 

• How we investigate concerns
• Sanctions we can impose
• What to do if a complaint is raised about me
• FtP Focus: student edition

Optical Consumer Complaints Service

Not all complaints from patients, service users, or customers need to be investigated by our Fitness to Practise Team. We fund the Optical Consumer Complaints Service (OCCS), which is an independent and free mediation service for consumers of optical care and the professionals providing that care.

All optical practices will have their own internal complaints procedure to deal with any complaints raised by consumers. Most concerns are normally resolved informally. If a consumer and the optical practice cannot resolve the complaint within the practice, the OCCS can help by offering mediation to find a resolution acceptable to both.

The OCCS offers help and guidance to professionals who would like to talk through a particular concern and helps them to manage the situation to, where possible, avoid a complaint. 

Visit the OCCS website for more information

Contact information

If you have any queries about the fitness to practise process, our team is available to help on ftp@optical.org.