The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7262 p220
16 August 2003

Society summary

Most fees set to rise by 5 per cent

The Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society decided at its August meeting to seek approval for an increase in the statutory fees, to take effect from 1 January 2004. Most fees would rise by about 5 per cent, but some would increase by a larger amount to reflect more accurately the costs of specific activities to which they relate.

For membership fees, the retention fee for those in full-time employment would rise from £195 to £205 and the part-time fee would rise from £110 to £116. The reduced fee payable by those aged 60 or over and not gainfully employed and by those unable to work because of ill health would rise by £1 to £22.

The fee for initial registration as a member would rise by 35.8 per cent from £81 to £110. This higher than average fee would be used to support the cost of the increased workload and staffing requirements of the preregistration department.

The work of the preregistration department would also be supported by increases above 5 per cent in the fees payable by preregistration trainees. The preregistration fee would rise by 12 per cent to £125, the registration examination fee and resit fee by 8 per cent to £135m and the late entry fee by 6 per cent to £265.

For pharmacy premises, the fees for new registrations and for restorations would increase by about 5 per cent, but the premises retention fee is set to rise by 23.8 per cent, from £101 to £125. This is because the Society is about to lose income from the Department of Health — worth £222,000 in 2003 — that has helped support the work of the inspectors. Since the inspectorate is operated on a cost recovery basis, the Society intends to make up the loss through an extraordinary increase of £19 in the premises retention fee, after applying the normal 5 per cent cost increase.

The remaining fees that would rise by more than 5 per cent are those paid by overseas pharmacists wishing to register in Britain. The fee paid by pharmacists from countries with which the Society has a reciprocal registration agreement, is set to rise by 35.8 per cent from £81 to £110. This would reflect the real cost of the administrative workload on individual cases.

Similarly, the Society hopes to gain approval for a large increase in the adjudication fee paid by overseas pharmacists, who must go through an assessment process before being allowed on to the British register. The Society wants an increase of nearly 120 per cent — from £210 to £445 — in the fee, which covers the examination of evidence of the person's fitness to practise in Britain. The aim is to reduce substantially the deficit between the cost of operating the adjudicating scheme and the fee income received.

But while the adjudication fee, which covers the examination of evidence of a person's fitness to practise in Britain, would show the largest percentage increase, the smallest proposed increase is in the fee for interview by the adjudicating committee, which would rise by only 3.7 per cent from £429 to £445.

The proposed fee scale is given in the table below, with the 2003 figures for comparison. For members' fees, the Society must obtain the approval of the Privy Council for an alteration to the Society's Byelaws. In the case of premises fees, the Society must make a submission to the Secretary of State for Health for the proposed fees to be fixed by Statutory Order.