REV12 form explained: what doctors without a designated body need

If you need a licence to practise but have no designated body or suitable person, the GMC asks for evidence each year that you are having proper appraisals. The REV12 form is a large part of that evidence. This guide explains what it is, using the GMC’s own guidance and form.

REV12 is the GMC’s “Appraiser report form”. Your appraiser completes it after your appraisal to show that the appraisal met the GMC’s requirements. It goes to the GMC as part of your annual return.

Doctors who don’t have a connection to a designated body or an approved suitable person. If you do have a connection, your appraisal is normally arranged through your designated body or suitable person. The GMC tells appraisers not to appraise a connected doctor unless this has been agreed with the responsible officer or suitable person. Use the GMC’s connection tool if you’re unsure.

The form asks your appraiser for their name and GMC number and for the designated bodies or suitable persons they appraise for. It also asks them to confirm at least five appraisals for those bodies in the last 12 months, and to describe their relationship to you. They declare that they meet the GMC’s appraiser criteria. The GMC says it may ask for evidence of this later.

The GMC says your appraiser must also hold registration and a licence to practise, be trained in appraisal for revalidation, discuss and reflect on their appraisal work in their own appraisal, understand the context of your work, see and verify that your supporting information is fit for purpose, refer doctors to the GMC if they have fitness to practise concerns, and not be in a licence withdrawal process. You should check your appraiser’s registration on the GMC’s online register.

1. Your details. Name, GMC reference number and revalidation submission date.
2. The appraiser’s details.
3. The appraisal. The appraisal period (normally the previous 12 months, or since your last appraisal), the date, and a description of the whole scope of your UK practice. The appraiser confirms that the appraisal was a face-to-face discussion, in person or by video link; covered your whole scope of practice; focused on Good medical practice; was based on a structured appraisal form; that you collected and reflected on supporting information as the GMC requires; and that you and the appraiser agreed and jointly signed a summary.
4. Your supporting information. For each of the six types (CPD, quality improvement activity, significant events, patient feedback, colleague feedback, complaints and compliments), the appraiser confirms you reflected on it, or explains why not, and records any actions in your PDP.
5. Your personal development plan. Whether you had a previous PDP, completed its actions, and agreed a new one.
6. The appraiser’s declarations and signature.

Yes, if it is a face-to-face discussion by video link. The GMC does not accept appraisals completed by telephone only.

• Be ready to describe your whole scope of practice in the UK.
• Bring your supporting information for all six areas. Our revalidation checklist lists them.
• Bring your last PDP and be ready to agree the next one.
• Expect to agree and sign a summary of the appraisal with your appraiser.

Your appraiser completes and signs the form and gives it to you. The GMC says it is not acceptable for you to complete any part of it yourself. You then upload it to your annual return in GMC Online. The GMC will usually ask for the annual return once a year, with at least three months’ notice, and you can submit it at any time once you have the notice and before the due date. If you haven’t received notice yet, the GMC says to wait for it before sending the form. If you had more than one whole-practice appraisal in the period the return covers, you upload a completed form for each. Appraisers are told not to attach any documents to the form. In some cases, where the GMC has asked, your appraiser may send it directly.

Most doctors complete the annual return online through GMC Online. The GMC also has a paper version, form REV10. It says you may use it only if you have no responsible officer or suitable person, the GMC has asked you for an annual return, and you can’t complete it online. If you use it, the same rules apply: your appraiser completes the REV12, and you send only what the GMC has asked for, not original documents or your supporting information for appraisal.

If you haven’t had an annual appraisal, or your appraisal doesn’t meet the GMC’s criteria, you must explain why in your annual return. You can use the same section to tell the GMC about a forthcoming appraisal. The GMC asks for your appraiser’s full name and contact details, your relationship to them, the appraisal date and where it will take place.

They must say which declaration they couldn’t confirm and why, and what was discussed with you. The GMC may then ask for further information from them or from you.

The form must confirm that both your appraiser and your appraisal met all of the GMC’s criteria.

Completing REV12 is an optional £50 add-on to a booked appraisal. See the fees page or read what a medical appraisal costs.

GMC, Guide for appraisers: the appraiser report form (REV12); GMC, Appraiser report form (REV12), last updated 10 July 2025.