The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7482 p668
15 December 2007

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First GMC retention fee rise for six years

Annual retention fees for the General Medical Council are to rise for the first time in six years.

The fees for 2008 will be £390, a 34 per cent rise since they were set at £290 in 2002. The rise is the equivalent of a 5 per cent annual rise since 2002. A 50 per cent discount will continue to be offered to doctors on low incomes.

The GMC says that it has introduced a range of initiatives since 2003 to improve its overall economy, efficiency and effectiveness, saving between £20m and £30m. These include relocation of some functions to Manchester (saving about £4m per year), expanding in-house legal work (saving about £3.5m a year), improvements in procurement (saving over £3m since 2003) and increasing the proportion of time the council’s hearing room is in use (saving £1.2m a year).