FY1 ARCP: what to prepare for your 2027 review

Find your foundation school's portfolio submission deadline and book your supervisor meetings before the end of each placement. If you started FY1 in August 2026, your main ARCP is expected in June 2027, based on the UK Foundation Programme's usual timetable. Your school must confirm the dates; there is no single national portfolio closure date.

This guide uses the national guidance available on 7 November 2026. Check it alongside your school's 2026–27 checklist, including any requirements specific to your nation or training arrangements. Portfolio admin is easier before your first placement becomes a memory and a lanyard in a drawer.

What the panel reviews

The Annual Review of Competence Progression considers your e-portfolio, supervisor reports and other assessments to decide whether you meet the requirements for progression. It also considers attendance and any concerns declared through Form R, SOAR or the equivalent process. UKFPO explains the evidence used in that judgement.

Good documentation makes your work assessable, but the decision includes supervisors' judgements about your progress. If you are struggling with an aspect of training, discuss it early rather than waiting for the panel to identify it.

Doctors training less than full time or following an extension still have annual reviews, with a further review when they approach a progression point. Ask your school which review and evidence deadlines apply to you.

Get feedback and reports organised

The national assessment schedule sets out the following requirements:

Team Assessment of Behaviour (TAB): Complete it in the first placement; at least one satisfactory TAB is required at each foundation level.
Placement Supervision Group (PSG): Arrange feedback in the first or second placement; at least one satisfactory PSG is required at each level.
Clinical supervisor report: Obtain an end-of-placement report for every placement. At least one must use PSG feedback.
Educational supervisor reports: Obtain an end-of-placement report for each placement except the last, when the end-of-year report replaces it.

The PSG is organised by your clinical supervisor. Check that it has been arranged while the colleagues contributing to it still work with you. Sending your TAB requests and agreeing your PSG plan early leaves time to discuss feedback and act on it.

Book report meetings before rotating away. Take a short list of outstanding evidence and any difficulties to the meeting, then agree who will do what. A meeting in the diary is useful; a completed report in the portfolio is what the panel can review. Try to book something more definite than ‘catch me after the ward round’.

Use SLEs to show progress

There is no nationally prescribed number of Supervised Learning Events per placement or foundation year. You need enough varied evidence to demonstrate the curriculum capabilities, with SLEs spread through each placement and feedback from different appropriate assessors.

The ARCP checklist requires evidence for all 13 Foundation Professional Capabilities. For FPCs 1–5, that must include direct observation of a sufficient range of clinical encounters and the life-support capabilities specified in FPC2.

Agree an approach with your supervisor and check local expectations. After an encounter that would benefit from feedback, ask the assessor promptly, discuss what to improve and record the agreed plan. Revisit that plan in a later encounter. Avoid saving all requests until the placement ends, when neither of you may remember the detail. ‘The patient in bed six’ has a short shelf life as a memory aid.

Keep mapping, reflection and teaching up to date

Under the curriculum mapping guidance, you can link up to 10 items to each FPC and each item to up to three FPCs. These are limits, not targets. Choose evidence that supports the capability and makes your progress easy to follow.

Keep your reflective summaries current. Describe what you learnt, what you changed and which evidence demonstrates it. A short, specific account is more useful than repeating a list of activities already visible elsewhere in the portfolio. The ward round was long enough without giving it a second life as an essay.

The personal learning log guidance requires at least 60 hours of learning during each FY1 and FY2 year, pro rata for LTFT doctors. At least 30 hours must be core learning; up to 30 can be non-core. You should be on track for the required hours before ARCP.

Check what qualifies before counting an activity. For example, ordinary ward rounds, induction and SLE completion are excluded from those learning hours. Log attendance regularly and check your balance of core and non-core learning before the final placement.

Check the remaining requirements

Use the national checklist to review:

Your educational supervisor's end-of-year report and completion of the curriculum outcomes.
Your learning log, reflections and required probity and health declarations.
Evidence of a PSA pass within two years before starting the programme, or a pass by completion of FY1.
Any additional approved requirements set by your training body or school.

The PSA is required for the FY1 Certificate of Completion. If you still need to sit it, confirm the arrangements with your school early.

Record absence accurately. More than 20 days away from training, excluding annual leave, in a 12-month whole-time-equivalent period triggers a review of whether extra training is needed. It does not automatically mean an extension. Discuss your circumstances with your supervisor and school rather than treating the threshold as an allowance to use up.

What to do during the year

Before your next placement ends, check TAB and PSG progress, book report meetings and look for gaps in the capabilities you have evidenced. Keep a short list of items waiting for someone else's input so you can follow them up while there is still time. Otherwise, your sent folder can start to look more complete than your portfolio.

During the final placement, work backwards from your school's submission deadline. Leave time for your educational supervisor to review the portfolio and complete the end-of-year report. Check that requested assessments have been returned, rather than counting requests as completed evidence.

If something will be late, tell your supervisor or foundation school before the deadline. Follow the local process for submitting missing material; do not assume that every portfolio locks on the same date or that late evidence will automatically be accepted.

Understanding your outcome

The UKFPO outcome definitions explain what follows the review:

Outcome 1 means satisfactory completion of FY1.
Outcome 3 means additional training time is required because progress is inadequate.
Outcome 4 means release from the training programme.
Outcome 5 means the panel has insufficient evidence to judge progress. It sets a revised evidence deadline; additional training time may be needed.
Outcome 8 records approved time out of the Foundation Programme. “Other” covers circumstances in which a standard outcome cannot be assigned at that review.

FY2 completion uses Outcome 6, which recommends the Foundation Programme Certificate of Completion. Read any outcome alongside the panel's written recommendations and agree the next steps with your supervisor or school.