Late payment must include penalty fee

A total of 90.4 per cent of registrants successfully applied for retention to the General Optical Council (GOC) register by the March 15 deadline.

The GOC warned practitioners who have yet to renew their registration that they must complete and return their application forms and fees by March 31, or risk removal from the registers.

For applications made after March 15, a £20 late penalty must also be included in addition to the basic retention fee. The GOC reported that if the £20 penalty is not included, the form and payment will be returned to the registrant.

This means the cost of retention for optometrists who missed the deadline has increased to £345 and for dispensing opticians, £300.