From 1 April 2010 the GMC’s fee for provisional registration will be £145. The initial full registration with a licence to practise and annual retention fee will be £420. Read more about the annual retention fee and what the GMC plans are for 2010.

The GMC's Annual Retention Fee

Contents

• How we use your fee
• Our plan for 2010

How we use your fee

Our net expenditure in 2010 is set to be £85.3 million. Most of this money comes from the ARF paid by doctors, with other income coming mainly from new registrations and investments.

The importance of our fitness to practise procedures and the rigour with which they are applied is reflected in the level of our spending in this area.

Our plan for 2010

Our annual Business Plan sets out what we intend to do each year. We will continue with the major programme of work to prepare for the introduction of revalidation from 2011. In addition to our ongoing core activities in registration, standards, education and fitness to practise, we will:

• Develop policy, consult and provide guidance to support the introduction of revalidation, and work with our four key interest groups to help them prepare for the introduction of revalidation.

• Publish new guidance on end of life care and research; issue revised guidance on video and audio recordings of patients; review our Management for Doctors guidance; and begin a review of Good Medical Practice.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of different means of promoting and embedding our guidance in doctors’ practice, including publishing new case studies in the GMP in Action format and support doctors to apply the principles of Good Medical Practice to patients with learning disabilities.

• Implement the standards and outcomes in Tomorrow’s Doctors 2009 and carry out quality assurance reviews of basic medical education at two medical schools and foundation training at eight postgraduate deaneries.

• Complete all work necessary to deliver the merger of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) with the GMC, and develop and consult on a new fee structure following the merger.

• Work with the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator to prepare for the transfer of the GMC’s adjudication functions to OHPA in 2011.

• Operate robust, fair, transparent and effective registration and certification processes, and deal firmly and fairly with all fitness to practise concerns raised about individual doctors.

• Engage with our key interests in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, UK, European and international decision-makers and healthcare regulators to influence the development of healthcare policy and legislation.

• Develop an Equality and Diversity Strategy that delivers the GMC’s vision and priorities for action.

• Continue to analyse and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our business processes. Since 2003 the GMC has implemented a significant programme of efficiency savings including; transferring the majority of the GMC's Fitness to Practise and Registration activities to Manchester; increasing the capacity of the in house legal team; and improving the utilisation of hearing rooms in adjudication.