Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

General Medical Council cuts fees for all doctors

Press Release

14 Dec 2011

The General Medical Council is cutting doctors’ fees. This is the first time the annual fee paid by all doctors has been cut since it was introduced in 1970.

As a result of further efficiencies achieved across the organisation, we are able this year to pass on our savings to all doctors.

Niall Dickson, the Chief Executive of the GMC

The General Medical Council is cutting doctors’ fees. This is the first time the annual fee paid by all doctors has been cut since it was introduced in 1970. 

The fee reduction for all doctors is part of a package of measures (1) agreed by the GMC’s Council at its meeting yesterday. Changes include:

  • The Annual Retention Fee has been cut from £420 to £390 for doctors holding registration with a licence to practise, and from £145 to £140 for doctors holding registration without a licence to practise. These reductions are effective from 1 April 2012.
  • Provisionally-registered doctors will pay £95 a year, down from £100 in 2011 and £145 in 2010.
  • Any doctor whose total gross annual world-wide income from all sources is less than £30,000 will qualify for a 50% reduction in their annual retention fees due after 1 April 2012. The current threshold is £26,000.

The reduction in fees has been made possible by improving the efficiency of the GMC’s operations, which has led to savings of over £8 million in 2011. Examples of savings include:

  • Expansion of the in-house legal team, reducing our requirement for external lawyers
  • Reducing the number of panellists sitting on panels from 5 to 3
  • Greater use of e-communications rather than paper

Niall Dickson, the Chief Executive of the GMC, said:

‘We have a responsibility to provide value for money and, as far as we can, to control our costs. Last year we were able to freeze the annual fee paid by all doctors and cut the fee paid by newly qualified doctors. As a result of further efficiencies achieved across the organisation, we are able this year to pass on savings to all doctors.

‘We are making these reductions at the same time as facing increasing demand on our services and delivering major initiatives that will benefit doctors and patients, including the introduction of revalidation, the medical practitioners tribunal service, and the roll-out of employer and regional liaison teams.’

Notes to Editors:

(1)The package of measures:
From 1 April 2012

  • For doctors moving from provisional to full registration, the cost of the first year of full registration has been further reduced to £195, compared to £210 in 2011 and £420 in 2010.
  • Doctors who are not first provisionally registered and who seek full registration within two years of qualification will also pay a fee of £195 for their first year of registration.
    From 15 December 2011
  • The cost of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) will now be £390, down from £500 in 2010 *
  • The cost of a Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration or GP Registration (CESR or CEGPR) will be £1500, down from £1600. *

* Those doctors with current open CCT, CESR and CEGPR applications on 15 December 2011 will also benefit from the fee reduction, and will receive a refund by 31 December 2011. All other certification-related fees, including reviews, resubmissions and appeals, will be frozen at 2010/11 levels.

The 245,000 doctors on the register will save an estimated combined total of over £6.5 million. This has been calculated using registration figures from 30 November 2011.

The GMC’s Council agreed an operational budget of £89.6 million for 2012, with priorities for investment including revalidation and quality assurance of medical education and training.

The GMC is encouraging all doctors to sign up to GMC Online for a quick, easy and secure way to pay their Annual Retention Fee. Doctors can now use GMC Online to sign up to e-billing and set up and manage a Direct Debit. More information about how to sign up to the service is available in the Registrations section of our website.

For further information please contact the Media Relations Office on 020 7189 5454, out of hours 020 7189 5444/ 07920 461497, email press@gmc-uk.org, website www.gmc-uk.org

The General Medical Council registers and licenses doctors to practise medicine in the UK.

The law gives us four main functions:

  • keeping up-to-date registers of qualified doctors
  • fostering good medical practice
  • promoting high standards of medical education and training
  • dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in doubt