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.
Explaining the consequences of a CHRE levy on regulators, the GOC told Optician: 'Further details of the proposed levy and scheduled implementation are yet to be announced. However, we anticipate that this will have an impact on the future retention and registration fee levels for GOC registrants.'
The GOC said in a statement that the 2011-12 retention fee would be agreed at its meeting in November. 'Registration fees are the GOC's only source of income, as we do not receive any additional funding from government. As such, we have a duty to demonstrate cost efficiencies in all areas of our work, and much of the work outlined in our strategic plan for 2010-15, such as developing online retention, will lead to greater long-term savings.'
The DoH also said it would not pursue plans to transfer the adjudication of fitness to practise cases to the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA). The transfer of the GOC's hearings was expected to take place in 2012, following the transfer of General Medical Council hearings in April 2011.
GOC chief executive and registrar Dian Taylor said: 'We have had very fruitful discussions with OHPA as to the future shape of the hearings processWe will now take on board the ideas generated by the discussion with OHPA, and look to embed those in our hearings process.'
The Council said that it will be consulting on proposed changes to its fitness to practise processes in the autumn.