GOC cuts costs and fees

You are not dreaming, retention fees for General Optical Council registrants will fall next year to a flat rate of £270 for optometrists and dispensing opticians, while those earning below £12,000 will pay just £170 a year.

The cut has been made possible by a reduction in costs at the GOC of over £250,000 from next year onward and the realisation that some of the assumptions that had been made for previous cost increases had been too pessimistic. Announcing the move, interim registrar Satjit Singh said some of the estimates of costs had been 'a little excessive', and he said the GOC would get things right in the future. 'We will have pound for pound reconciliation and this will be reflected in our fees as well.' Council member Nick Rumney agreed that the changing situation had led to larger estimates of costs than were necessary. One upside of this, said Singh, was the ability it gave the GOC to invest in systems that would begin to pay dividends in terms of cost savings in the future.