Full-time retention fees for 2004 can be paid online
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is introducing a new system that will allow members working full-time and those living overseas to pay their retention fees for 2004 online. Members will also be able to pay their
fees for the first time by submitting credit or debit card details
instead of cheques.
As part of the new system, the Society’s bankers, rather than Society
staff, will process the 46,000 payments and forms associated with the
retention of members’ registration, along with the 5,000 forms
and payments associated with the 12,000 registered premises.
The 2004 annual retention fee pack is to be distributed shortly, following
Privy Council approval of the Council’s proposed fee scales for
2004. Similarly, the 2004 annual return and retention fee pack for pharmacy
premises is to be sent out soon to pharmacy owners following Department
of Health approval of the 2004 premises fees.
The new online payment procedure will go live once the retention fee
packs have been mailed. Full-time and overseas members will be able to
access the facility by keying in their registration number and a code
number given on their retention fee form. They will also be able to use
the same facility to make charitable donations to the Society’s
Benevolent Fund and Birdsgrove House Fund, should they so wish. (Other
members can download a donation form for submitting donations by post.)
The Society hopes to introduce online payments for other membership categories
and a range of other online services over the next few years.
Most fees have risen by about 5 per cent from the 2003 figures. The retention
fee for pharmacists working full-time has risen from £195 to £205
and the part-time fee from £110 to £116. One fee that has
risen by more than 5 per cent is the premises retention fee, which increase
by 24 per cent from £101 in 2003 to £125 in 2004. This increase
has been necessary because the Society is losing income from the Department
of Health (worth £222,000 in 2003) that has helped support the
work of the inspectors.
All fees are due on 1 January 2004, and for 2004 the registration team
is to pay particular attention to late payments, which have caused problems
in the past. The Society’s Deputy Secretary and Registrar, Philip
Green, says: “It is unfair to expect the majority of the membership
who pay their fees on time to subsidise those who fail to do so. Chasing
payments and erasing members for non-payment is an expensive process,
and one that adds to the cost of the process. Members should be aware
that
if they fail to pay fees on time then they
risk erasure from the register, meaning
that they would be unable practice as a pharmacist.”
Similarly, premises owners who fail to make their annual returns by 01
January 2004 will risk their premises being removed from the Register,
meaning their pharmacies would have to close to the public.
Further information about the annual return and retention fee collection
process is available on the Society’s website (www.rpsgb.org.uk)
or from the registration section (tel 020 7572 2322).
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