Council agrees to introduce concessionary retention fees
The Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is to ask the Privy Council to approve greatly reduced retention fees for non-practising pharmacists who have been on the register for at least 50 year and for pharmacists who practise overseas. It is also proposing an amended definition of “practising pharmacist” that might allow some members to move from the practising section of the Register to the non-practising section.
At the August
Council meeting, the Council also decided to seek a 4.3
per cent increase in the standard retention fee for practising pharmacists,
from £256 to £267. Most other fees would increase by about
3 per cent, but the normal fee for non-practising pharmacists would rise
by 25 per cent from £46 to £60. The fee for non-practising
pharmacists who have been registered for 50 years or more would be £20.
The new overseas retention fee would be set at £106 and would apply
only to practising pharmacists registered with an overseas competent
authority and not required to register with the Society by local law
or practice.
The restoration fee for those who have resigned from the Society but
wish to return to the non-practising Register would remain unchanged
at £125, but a special provision waives this fee for those practising
overseas and those with more than 50 years on the register who chose
to leave the Register when the 2005 fees were introduced. The restoration
fee for those whose names have been removed from the Register for non-payment
of fees or on the direction of the Statutory Committee, for whom the
restoration fee would hav to be paid, increased from £494 to £509.
The Council also decided to seek an amendment to the Byelaw definition
of a practising pharmacist by removing a reference to “the science
of medicines” in the current definition. The revised wording would
be “a practising pharmacist is a member who undertakes any work
in, or gives advice in relation to, the practice of pharmacy or health
care.” The Council did not, however, agree to seek the removal
of the same wording from the definition of a non-practising pharmacist,
which would still read “a non-practising pharmacist is a member
who does not engage in pharmacy practice and does not work in or give
advice in relation to the science of medicines or the practice of pharmacy
or health care.”
Explaining the new fee scale, the Society says that the Council decided
that fees for 2006 should only rise in line with inflation following
the 25 per cent rise in 2005. The Council agreed that personal retention
fees for practising pharmacists should rise by 3 per cent, but that was
adjusted to 4.3 per cent to take into account the Council’s further
decisions on fees.
The 25 per cent rise in the retention fee for non-practising pharmacists
is intended to cover the costs of administration and providing The
Pharmaceutical Journal. The Council changed previous policy to a link the level of the
non-practising fee to practising fee, reversing its 2004 decision to
raise it over three years to one third of the level of the practising
fee.
The Society says that the reduced fee for non-practising members who
have been on the register continuously for over 50 years is to recognise
long-standing service and contribution to the profession.
The reduced fee for pharmacists practising overseas is designed to cover
the full costs of administration and airmailing the PJ.
The Council agreed to refer the issue of part time fees to the Resource
Management Committee for a full exploration of the issues associated
with the retention fee for practising members who do not work fulltime
and for those on low incomes.
The Council also agreed a 3 per cent increase to technician retention
fees. A practising technician will pay £88 and a non-practising
technician will pay £67. The Council also agreed that the 2006
retention fee would be included in the registration application fee for
those technicians entering the register between October and December
2005 and that those technicians entering the register in this period
would not be required to pay a separate retention fee in 2006.
The Council also decided that the premises retention fee for 2006 should
rise from £137 to £160, so as better to reflect the cost
of activity in that area. The level of the premises fee is a decision
for ministers in the Department of Health following consultation.
The changes must be made through an amendment to the Society’s
Byelaws. An Official Notice setting out the proposed
Byelaw amendment is published in this week’s Journal (p211). Members have 60 days
in which to comment on the proposal before it is submitted to the Privy
Council for approval.
Correction
Retention fees for non-practising pharmacists are to rise by 30 per cent from £46 to £60, and not 25 per cent. |
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal