The BMI thresholds most providers use
Eligibility starts with body mass index because that is how NICE frames who should be considered for weight-management support. Providers set their own entry criteria on top of the national guidance and the conditions attached to each individual treatment, so the exact cut-off varies — but the pattern across regulated UK services is consistent:
| Your BMI | Where you usually stand |
|---|---|
| 30 or above | Most providers will assess you for treatment on BMI alone. |
| 27 to 29.9 | Usually assessed only if you also have a weight-related condition, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or sleep apnoea. |
| Below 27 | Regulated providers do not normally offer weight-loss treatment. A provider willing to treat well below the guidance is a reason for caution, not celebration. |
Meeting a threshold means a provider will assess you — it doesn't guarantee a prescription. The decision belongs to their registered prescriber, and a responsible one will sometimes say no. This page is general information, not medical advice.
Why thresholds are lower for some ethnic backgrounds
NICE advises using lower BMI cut-offs — typically 27.5 rather than 30 — for people of South Asian, Chinese, other Asian, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean family background. The evidence behind this is well established: at the same BMI, people from these backgrounds carry a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, so the point at which treatment becomes appropriate arrives earlier.
Not every online questionnaire asks about ethnicity. Ones that do are applying the guidance properly; if a provider's form never raises it, that tells you something about how carefully the rest of the assessment is done.
What else gets checked
BMI opens the door. The rest of the assessment decides whether treatment is actually appropriate for you:
- Medical history — existing conditions, past surgery, and anything that would make a given treatment unsuitable.
- Current medicines — everything you take, prescribed or not, so interactions get caught before they happen.
- Mental health and eating history — a history of an eating disorder changes the picture, and a careful provider asks about it directly.
- Pregnancy — whether you are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy.
- What you've already tried — diet and activity changes remain the foundation; treatment is offered alongside them, not instead of them.
When treatment isn't offered
Some answers end the assessment, whatever your BMI. Regulated providers will not treat you if you are under 18, pregnant or breastfeeding, or below their BMI threshold, and many will decline where there is an active eating disorder or a condition that makes treatment unsafe. Expect to be pointed back to your GP in those cases — and expect a legitimate provider to actually do the pointing rather than quietly taking the order.
It's also worth saying plainly: entering a false weight to clear a threshold is dangerous, and providers increasingly verify with photos or video for exactly that reason. If your numbers don't meet the criteria, the honest routes are your GP, an NHS weight-management programme, or simply time spent on the foundations first.
Check your own BMI first
A minute with our BMI & eligibility checker tells you which row of the table you're in before any provider does — it runs in your browser and saves nothing. If the answer is 27 or above, the sensible next step is understanding how an online consultation actually works, then comparing what each regulated provider's service includes.
Two specific cases come up often enough that we've covered them separately: eligibility at a BMI of 27 and eligibility with type 2 diabetes.