The GOsC seeks registration fee reduction

The GOsC Council discussed its 2012-13 budget strategy at its meeting yesterday, 12 January. A fundamental review of the GOsC’s costs and expenditure has been underway since the Autumn of 2011 with a view to reducing the financial burden that regulation places on registrants. The Government last year ordered all health regulators to stringently review their processes and cut costs.

The GOsC Council agreed yesterday that savings identified in the current review should be passed on to registrants in the form of a fee reduction in 2012-13. The Council also determined that the cost review should be ongoing with the aim of seeking further fee reductions for osteopaths in subsequent years.

Council anticipates the saving to registrants in the coming financial year could be in the order of 8% (over and above the inflationary increases, which have already been absorbed by the GOsC). Confirmation of this is subject to the finalisation of the GOsC’s Annual Business Plan and Budget, which will be approved along with the final decision on registrant fee levels at the Council’s meeting on 29 March.

Any change to the fee level would affect not just the full annual registration fee but also the lower levels paid by new registrants in their first and second years on the Register. Changes to GOsC registrant fee levels will require the approval of the Privy Council, as the current fee level is specified in a Statutory Instrument (The General Osteopathic Council (Application for Registration and Fees) Rules Order of Council 2000). The GOsC is therefore already in discussion with the Department of Health as to the quickest and easiest way to bring into effect a fee reduction as soon as possible after Council has taken its decision in March.

Further information will be provided to the profession as soon as this is possible, via the GOsC website and The Osteopath, and individually to osteopaths as their annual renewals fall due.