General Dental Council Agrees Fees For 2008, UK

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 26 Sep 2007 - 16:00 PDT

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The GDC has set the 2008 fee levels for dental professionals:

The first registration fee and annual retention fee (ARF) for dentists will be £438 (an increase of £18 or 4.3 per cent, in line with inflation)

The annual retention fee for dental care professionals (which applies to dental hygienists, dental therapists and clinical dental technicians only at the moment) will be £96 (an increase of £24 or 33 per cent)

The first registration fee for all dental care professional groups will be £96.

The fee increases are needed to adequately resource the GDC's existing core functions, including registering the new groups of dental professionals such as dental nurses and dental technicians, as well as developing new initiatives to strengthen patient protection.

GDC President, Hew Mathewson said:

"We are committed to using our resources wisely so that our registrants' fees can be kept as low as possible. The fee levels for 2008 reflect the true costs of delivering effective regulation and the job of maintaining high standards within dentistry.

The fees for DCPs, including dental hygienists and dental therapists, will in part help us to deal with anticipated last minute applications from potential DCP registrants as we approach the legal cut-off date in July 2008."

The GDC will also be introducing an ARF for the Specialist Lists for the first time in 2008. This is to cover the costs of maintaining the Lists and providing both a telephone and e-mail enquiry service for the many people looking for dental specialists. There will also be an application fee for dentists joining these lists.

The 2008 fee levels for all registrant groups were agreed at the Council's meeting on Tuesday 18 September 2007, which took place in Cardiff in public:

Dentists DCPs* Retention £438 £96** Temporary registration £438 n/a First registration £37 per month from the first month of entry £8*** per month from the first month of entry Restoration £110 £24 Specialist first registration £250 n/a Specialist retention £52 n/a

*DCPs include: dental hygienists, dental therapists, dental technicians, clinical dental technicians, dental nurses and orthodontic therapists.

**Dental nurses and dental technicians who are already registered with the GDC do not need to pay an annual retention fee until July 2009, which will be the end of the first year of compulsory registration for these two groups.

***Dental nurses and dental technicians who register for the first time between 1 January 2008 and 30 July 2008 (the registration deadline) will pay the £96 registration fee which will cover them up to July 2009, when their first annual retention fee is due.

The annual retention fee is due on or before 31 December each year. This currently applies to dentists, dental hygienists, dental therapists and clinical dental technicians. Information on paying the ARF is available on our website.

The new fee levels for first registration will take effect on 1 January 2008.

Specialist Lists fees: From 1 January 2008 first listing fees will apply to all twelve Lists. All specialists applying on or after 1 January 2008 will be charged this first listing fee. Applications received before 31 December 2007 will not be subject to the new fee. The specialist ARF is a stand alone fee per list of £52. Specialists can choose whether to retain their name in each list independently.

The fee levels for 2007 and previous years are published on our website.

http://www.gdc-uk.org