The annual renewal fee for pharmacists to register to practise in the UK could rise by 4.2% from £240 to £250 from October 2015, under proposals agreed by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and due to go out for consultation with the profession in February 2015.
Pharmacy technicians could see their annual renewal fee increase by 9.3% from £108 to £118 if the proposals from the GPhC are given the go ahead. A rise of 9.0% is proposed for the pharmacy premises fee, which would go up by £20 to £241.
If the proposed fees are agreed it would be the first increase since 2012 when fees were frozen. The new rates would apply from 15 October 2015.
The increases are to meet the costs of running the GPhC’s regulatory functions and to avoid any future fluctuations in fee levels, according to the consultation document presented to the GPhC’s council meeting on 5 February 2015.
“We have, for the first time, undertaken a fees and cost allocation review to ensure that our fees reflect, as far as possible, the underlying costs of regulating both individual registrant groups and premises,” the document says.
GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin acknowledges that the rise faced by technicians is “disproportionate” when compared with the fees for pharmacists but he adds: “Calculating the underlying costs per registrant group involves a complex process and there is no perfect formula. We are confident that the data used to inform this recommendation is robust.”
