BMA Judicial Review – Judgment given

GMC's decision to withdraw age exemption for payment of the annual retention fee for doctors who are 65 or over upheld as lawful by judicial review.

The GMC was advised by Leading Counsel that the age exemption for payment of the annual retention fee for doctors who are 65 or over was unlawful and consequently on 22 May 2008 Council decided to withdraw the exemption.

On 14 August 2008 the BMA applied for a judicial review of the Council decision.

On 3 October 2008 the Court upheld as lawful Council’s decision to withdraw the age exemption for payment of the annual retention fee for doctors who are 65 or over.

We wrote to all affected doctors in early August detailing the options available to them following the withdrawal of age exemption and enclosed all the necessary documentation to return to us. These remain valid following the judgment.

However, due to the need to wait for the Court’s decision, we will not now introduce the ARF for previously age exempt doctors until 1 January 2009.

We will be writing to all affected doctors advising them of the judgment and what action to take. Any doctors who no longer have the documentation that was sent to them can download copies from our forms page.