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The latest figures published by UCAS has revealed nearly 15 per cent more students secured places on undergraduate pharmacy programmes in the UK this year compared with 2024.

This year saw 5,240 students gain places, a 14.7 per cent increase on 4,570 last year. The 2024 figure was lower than the previous two years when 4,675 and 4,800 were accepted on to courses in 2022 and 2023 respectively. 

The 2025 figure is a 46.6 per cent rise on pre-pandemic levels when 3,575 students were accepted in 2019.

London had the highest number of accepted students this year with 1,055 while the South-West of England had the lowest with 155. Wales and Northern Ireland saw a slight fall in the number of students gaining places, marked by 2.8 per cent and 2.5 per cent decreases respectively.

In the NHS Workforce Plan, published in June 2023 by the then Conservative Government, the ambition was to expand training places for pharmacists to 4,300 by 2028-29 and 5,000 by 2031-32.