Moneo writes

Last week I received notification from my local optometric committee of the annual general meeting. Undoubtedly, most people reading this column will have received something similar recently. The question is what have you done with yours? Do you intend to go along to your AGM and take part in the meeting? The very sad fact is that normally many of these meetings consist of the LOC itself plus one or two die-hards who turn up to ask one or two questions and then go away again for another year.

This year will be different and your non-attendance could cost you an awful lot of money. At these meetings the LOCs will be seeking approval for ratification of the decision to set up a new central unit to assist in the running of LOCs. It is proposed to add another 0.5 per cent to the statutory levy to assist in the running of this new unit. That is only the start of it. If this unit is to be truly successful it will mean most of the current LOCs ramping up their activity levels in quite a major way and that will be reflected in a big addition to the costs of running the LOC, which will be raised by further increasing the statutory levy.