The governing council of the GPhC has agreed to increase the
registered pharmacy entry and annual renewal fees from £262 to
£365, to reflect the cost of regulating each pharmacy premises.
The Council’s decision follows a consultation on fees for
registered pharmacy premises, which ran from January to April
2020. Stakeholders were asked for their views on whether fees for
pharmacy premises should be charged according to how much it
costs to regulate them. The GPhC received over 1700 responses to
the consultation and has published a report summarising the
feedback [568KB] that was received.
The consultation proposed that the increase in fees would come
into force in October 2020. However, due to the pressures
experienced by the pharmacy sector during the coronavirus
pandemic, the Council decided to delay bringing in the fee
increases until April 2021.
There are no immediate plans to change fees for pharmacy
professionals.
The consultation also sought initial views on the areas that the
GPhC intends to look at as part of its long-term fees strategy.
The next stage of this strategy will involve a consultation
looking at the feasibility of differential fees for individuals,
a multi-year fee cycle and charging for the accreditation and
re-accreditation of all training courses.
GPhC Chief Executive Duncan Rudkin said:
“We would like to thank everyone who responded to the
consultation on fees for registered pharmacy premises. As part of
its decision-making process, our Council has carefully considered
consultation feedback, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and
the overall cost of pharmacy regulation.
“We have had to make this increase to make sure fees cover the
cost of regulating each pharmacy premises, which is now £365 a
year. The revised fee structure will begin in April next year to
provide time for pharmacy owners to prepare for this change.”
Notes
- We received a total of 1716 written responses to our
consultation.
- 1524 of these respondents identified themselves as
individuals and 192 responded on behalf of an organisation.
- The cost of regulating each pharmacy premises is £365 a year,
based on 2018/19 data.
- The new fee structure for registered pharmacy premises will
begin on 1 April 2021.
