Dentists consult over fee rise

The General Dental Council’sprimary source of income is from fees from registrants. The current annual retention fee (ARF) for dentists is £576.

The GDC said:

“Since 2010 when we last increased the ARF there has been a 110% increase in the number of complaints from patients and members of the public, employers, other registrants and the police about GDC registrants.

“As a result, we need additional funds to investigate these complaints and where necessary to bring Fitness to Practise cases involving dentists and DCPs. If we do not have sufficient funds to bring these cases we would fail in our duty to protect patients and the public. This would also mean that the public would lose confidence in dental professionals.”

The GDC said it needs to collect an extra £18m a year to deal with extra Fitness to Practise hearings this year and in 2015.

The ARF level for dentists will need to increase to £945 a year, a 64% increase..

This consultation follows on from a consultation held between 16 April and 4 June which focussed on the policy used when setting the Annual Retention Fee, responses from which have been considered when establishing the proposed new fee.

The consultation is open until 4 September 2014.

Further information about the consultation, including questions and answers, can be found here.