Guidance

UK NSC open call exceptions criteria

Updated 22 September 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-annual-call-submitting-a-screening-proposal/uk-nsc-open-call-exceptions-criteria

The open call for screening proposals runs between 1 July and 30 September every 2 years. 

In exceptional circumstances, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) will consider proposals outside the open call period. It uses the exceptions criteria below to determine if it should review a topic at the time of submission or defer it until the next open call.

Individuals or organisations submitting a proposal they think meets the exceptions criteria still need to complete an open call request form.

The open call exceptions criteria focus on whether a proposal contains evidence that is so significant it could lead to a new or updated recommendation. In order to be considered outside the open call period, a proposal needs to reference at least one of the following: 

  1. New, peer-reviewed published (or in publication) evidence that shows that a screening programme significantly improves specified health outcomes for a particular condition. This evidence would usually be from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a population screening programme to health outcomes with clear generalisability to the UK (or an equivalent level of evidence on a topic where an RCT is unlikely to be feasible).  

  2. Evidence of new, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) approved treatments for a condition where screening is not currently recommended. The lack of treatments to significantly improve health outcomes of people detected through screening must be the major unresolved barrier to a positive screening recommendation for the condition.  

  3. Evidence of a new test, which has been appropriately studied/trialled in a population screening setting, for a condition where screening is not currently recommended because the major barrier is a lack of sufficiently accurate tests approved in the UK.

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