Staged fees rejected

Payment of General Optical Council (GOC) fees through staged instalments would be less beneficial to practitioners earning lower incomes than a reduced retention fee, according to the GOC.

In its meeting on Harley Street on September 23, the Council resolved not to offer staged payments and instead develop proposals to introduce a reduced retention fee.

The decision followed the GOC's consultation in 2009 on the possibility of introducing a staged payment facility. Despite acknowledging that staged payments would provide additional convenience for some registrants, the Council decided this would be outweighed by having to make changes to the registration rules, significant systems development as well as ongoing administration and other costs.