The UK Foundation Programme Office annually recruit doctors who hold or are eligible for full registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) to work in recognised F2 Stand-alone training programmes as part of the UK Foundation Programme. Applicants are invited to apply for F2 level posts across the four nations of the UK.
F2 Stand-alone doctors will have the opportunity to gain experience in a series of placements in a variety of specialties and healthcare settings and will be offered the same educational resources and teaching opportunities as F2 doctors on two-year programmes. F2 Stand-alone programmes are one-year fixed-term posts.
This guidance is subject to change due to external dependencies. The UKFPO will provide updates as necessary on the UKFPO website. Please ensure that you are checking the UKFPO website on a regular basis so that you do not miss any updates.
Non-urgent advice: F2 Stand-alone 2026
Applicant guidance for the next recruitment round has not yet been published. We expect that this will be published in late 2025/early 2026. Until then, you may wish to review the guidance for the previous year which can be found below.
It is important to note that we update our guidance for each recruitment round. You can use the previous year’s guidance as an indicative guide to help you prepare, but you should regularly check our website for updates on the guidance for the next recruitment round.
Non-urgent advice: F2 Stand-alone 2025
The recruitment process for F2 Stand-alone 2025 is closed. It is not possible to submit an application at this time.
Notification of post numbers
Please see our announcement on post numbers for 2025 F2 Stand-alone programmes.
Foundation Year 2
In Foundation Year 2 (F2) doctors remain under clinical supervision (as do all doctors in training) but take on increasing responsibility for patient care. In particular, they begin to make management decisions as part of their progress towards independent practice. F2 doctors further develop their core generic skills and contribute more to the education and training of the wider healthcare workforce, for example nurses, medical students and less experienced doctors. At the end of F2, they will have begun to demonstrate clinical effectiveness, leadership and the decision-making responsibilities that are essential for hospital and general practice speciality training.
Satisfactory completion of F2 will lead to the award of a Foundation Programme Certificate of Completion (FPCC), which indicates that the foundation doctor is ready to enter a core, specialty or general practice training programme.
See the applicant guidance for the current recruitment year at the top of this page.
Applicants who are currently working as part of the two-year programme or have successfully completed the F2 year and received a Foundation Achievement of Competency Document (FACD)/Foundation Programme Certificate of Completion (FPCC) are not eligible to apply for F2 Stand-alone posts.
Application & selection process
Comparison of 2-year programmes to F2 Stand-alone programmes
| Two-Year Foundation Programme (FP) | F2 Stand-alone Programmes |
| Provisional Registration with GMC | Full registration with GMC |
| 2-year programme allocations | 1-year fixed-terms posts |
| FP Curriculum | FP Curriculum |
| Clinical and Educational Supervisor | Clinical and Educational Supervisor |
| Foundation Programme Certificate of Completion (FPCC) upon satisfactory completion of the F2 | Foundation Programme Certificate of Completion (FPCC) upon satisfactory completion of the F2 |
| Access to the online foundation e-portfolio | Access to the online foundation e-portfolio |