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GOC board members have voted to offer favourable remuneration to new Council members who will take up office in April 2009.

Council members are currently paid a daily rate of £270 for attendance at meetings and other committee or working group gatherings. The chair receives an annual honorarium of £35,000.

At a meeting in London last Thursday, it was agreed that an annual honorarium payment package of £12,000 would be offered to future Council members who will be recruited by the Appointments Commission which takes over this responsibility later this year. It was agreed that the annual honorarium for the chair would remain unchanged. Council members were advised that other regulatory bodies would be advertising for council member posts at the same time as the GOC and therefore it was inevitable that applicants would compare the remuneration. It was also agreed that an annual payment package would be advantageous for budget forecasting.

The remuneration agreed by Council members compares favourably with that of the General Medical Council which has around 240,000 registrants. GMC members receive an annual package of £11,825. An additional allowance of £3,225 is paid to the committee chair. A member on the board of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which has over 674,000 registrants, receives a daily attendance allowance of £260.

The Appointments Commission is expected to begin the recruitment process from September 2008. Current chairman Rosie Varley, who has served for two terms of five years, is to step down at the end of the year.

Council members were asked to approve a recommendation by the finance and procedure committee for additional expenditure of £143,307 in the current financial year, resulting from the implementation of the White Paper and the cost of additional staffing required. This figure was in addition to the deficit figure of £227,439 for 2008/9, agreed at the last Council meeting in March, again due to the cost of the White Paper recommendations. This additional cost will be met from Council reserves.

The Council also confirmed to Optician this week that it 'anticipated an increase' in registration fees next year and the amount would be decided later this year.

Members also agreed the process and a draft timetable for amending the GOC fitness to practise rules. These will apply the civil standard of proof which became a requirement under the Health and Social Care Bill, which is expected to become law this month. The public consultation document on the new rules is available on the GOC website. Council members are expected to formally agree to the rules in September. The move to a civil standard to be applied during FTP hearings will be implemented no later then November 2008.

Members also agreed amendments to registration rules that will create a new independent prescribing speciality. The legislation to allow optometrists who meet certain requirements to prescribe medicines for some ocular conditions came into force on June 4 2008.

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