Justify retention fee increases, says NPA
Increases in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society personal and premises retention fees need to be justified, says the National
Pharmaceutical Association.
At their October meeting, NPA board members decided that it was impossible
to tell whether or not the membership fee increase is justified because
the Society has not explained sufficiently what it intends to do with
the extra money raised. Fee increases should be reasonable and should
be supported by a properly costed budget, they say.
There is also concern among NPA board members that the Society has not
taken account of the number of members who will switch to the lower-fee
non-practising register or who will leave the register completely. This
could be a significant drain from the register, they say, particularly
when it is considered that around 30 per cent of the current register
is “inactive” and of the remaining 70 per cent, around one
third are engaged part-time. “It would be a paradox indeed if the
effect of the proposed increase in retention fee resulted in a reduction
in income for the Society,” the NPA said.
So far as the premises fee is concerned, the NPA board describes the
increase as unacceptable and not justified by the reasons given.
Regulatory impact The NPA is to ask its members for examples
of burdensome red-tape. The organisation has been approached by
the
cabinet Office’s Regulatory Impact Unit, which is to examine
the regulatory burden facing pharmacists.
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