GOC prepares to raise retention fees again

General Optical Council retention and registration fees for 2011-12 are set to rise again as a result of the Department of Health's decision to make the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) self-funding.

Practitioners already experienced massive increases in their fees for 2010-2011 when the annual retention fee for optometrists was increased from £219 to £325 and the fee for dispensing opticians from £219 to £280.

A DoH review of its arm's length bodies to assess whether their work remained essential nationally concluded that the CHRE, which oversees professional regulators, should be removed from the sector. The review, which is subject to parliamentary approval, stated that the CHRE should be funded through charging a levy on regulators, including the GOC.