GOC members vote to freeze registration fee

GOC members have voted against reducing the overall registration fee because the additional estimated £120,000 costs associated with the implementation of recommendations in the White Paper on healthcare regulation.

As reported in Optician, (November 23), the Finance and Procedure Committee recommended that the CET levy be reduced by £7 for 2008/9. This would have cut the overall registration fee to £162.

However, members who met in Edinburgh for the first time last Thursday voted against this decrease after taking into consideration the additional cost of fulfilling the regulatory requirements of proposals in the Health and Social Care Bill.

There was a unanimous decision to freeze the fee at the current rate of £169 after examining the budget forecast which showed a potential post-tax deficit without taking into account the cost of the regulatory change of £170,000 for 2008/09.