What is the Medical Licensing Assessment?
The Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) is a two-part assessment made up of an applied knowledge test (AKT) and a clinical and professional skills assessment (CPSA) which students graduating in the academic year 2024–25 and onwards will need to pass as part of their degree. For medical schools with written finals in the penultimate year of study, the AKT element will be sat from the academic year 2023/24.
The MLA will test the core knowledge, skills and behaviours of doctors who want to practise in the UK. For students at UK medical schools, the assessment will be led and delivered by UK medical schools and regulated by the General Medical Council (GMC).
The MLA will provide assurance that anyone who obtains a UK medical degree has shown that they can meet a common and consistent threshold for safe practice before they are licensed to work in the UK. All medical students graduating from UK universities from the academic year 2024–25 onwards will need to pass the MLA as part of their degree before they can join the medical register.
International medical graduates who want to join the UK medical register and who would currently take the GMC’s PLAB test will continue to do so, though in 2024 the PLAB test will become compliant with the requirements of the MLA.