The GOC Wants to Hear From You — And This Year It Really Matters

Every year, the General Optical Council runs its Workforce and Perceptions Survey — and every year, if we're being honest, a lot of optical professionals quietly mean to fill it in and then don't quite get around to it. If that sounds familiar, this might be the year to change that habit. Because the 2026 survey has landed at a genuinely interesting moment for the profession, and what gets reported back will shape real decisions.

What's in It This Year?

Alongside the usual questions about job satisfaction, working conditions and wellbeing — all of which produced some pretty striking findings last year — the GOC has added two new topic areas for 2026 that are worth paying attention to.

The first is driving vision standards. The government is considering making sight tests mandatory for drivers aged 70 and over, and the GOC wants to understand where the profession stands on this. If you have a view — and most optometrists and dispensing opticians working in practice do — this is a direct opportunity to feed into the policy conversation before decisions are made.

The second new area is artificial intelligence. AI is moving into optometry faster than many anticipated — from OCT analysis and diabetic screening to automated referral support — and the GOC is keen to understand how registrants feel about it: the opportunities, the concerns, and the practical realities of working alongside these tools day to day.

Last Year's Results Are Still Relevant

The 2025 survey found that nearly half of optometrist respondents felt the standard time allocated for a sight test was insufficient for safe patient care. That job satisfaction had fallen for the second year in a row. Those findings were significant enough to prompt the GOC to launch a full thematic review into commercial practices and patient safety — a review that is still ongoing. The results from this year's survey will feed directly into that work. In other words, if the pressures identified in 2025 resonate with your own experience, completing the 2026 survey is one of the most practical things you can do to keep that conversation going at a regulatory level.

It Takes About 10 Minutes

The survey is completely confidential — run independently by Enventure Research — and takes around ten minutes to complete. There's also a prize draw for a £250 online gift card if you need a small nudge. The closing date is 22 April 2026, so there's no need to rush, but there's no reason to put it off either.

Whether you're working in an independent practice, a multiple, or somewhere in between, your experience of the profession matters and is worth recording. The GOC can only act on what it hears — and the more voices it hears, the more accurately the survey reflects the true state of UK optometry.

You can complete the survey via the GOC website.