Courtesy, GPhC
The fees that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must pay to register with the professional regulator have been frozen for 2016–2017.
The fees applied to pharmacy premises for the 2016–2017 financial year will also be fixed at current levels, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) announced following its council meeting on 4 February 2016.
The GPhC says it is confident that planned efficiencies and cost savings have ruled out the need for any rise in 2016–2017. It also says it is keen to “avoid dramatic changes in the fee structure in any one year”.
It plans to reconsider fees in 2017 and says: “We will also plan to consider afresh the scope for fee levels to be looked at over a longer term, given the public and professional interest in stability and predictability over time. Any proposed changes to fees would be subject to consultation.” The GPhC’s budget and fee proposals are available on its website.
Chief executive Duncan Rudkin says the GPhC is committed to using registrants’ fees efficiently and effectively. “We are therefore planning to reduce our operating costs for 2016–2017 so we can maintain registrants’ fees at the current level despite continuing growth in the volume of cases we are having to deal with.”
Fees were last increased in October 2015 when the pharmacist’s annual renewal fee went up by £10 to £250. The annual renewal fee for pharmacy technicians rose by the same amount to £118 and the annual renewal for pharmacy premises was set at £241, a rise of £20.
