The GPhC today (January 30) announced that it is “seeking views” about proposals for a 6% increase in the annual registration fees for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy owners from September 2025.
It has also proposed a “further 6% increase” on these fees from the following year.
Read more: GPhC rubberstamps plans to hike registration fees by 7.5%
“The GPhC is making cost savings where possible but fee increases are still needed to cover rising operational costs and to make sure that [it] can continue to fulfil its regulatory responsibilities effectively,” the regulatory body said.
It added that the consultation is open from January 30 to April 24 – the Council will then consider making the fee increase a rule “at a meeting in [the] summer” and if approved, it will apply from this September.
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The proposals would mean that from September 2025:
- Pharmacist renewal fees would increase by £17 to £293
- Pharmacy technician renewal fees would increase by £8 to £138
- Pharmacy premises renewal fees would increase by £24 to £416
And from September 2026:
- Pharmacist renewal fees would increase by £17 to £310
- Pharmacy technician renewal fees would increase by £8 to £146
- Pharmacy premises renewal fees would increase by £25 to £441
“Regular and modest”
The consultation papers also mentioned the re-introduction of “multi-year fee cycles” to give pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy owners “more certainty about the future costs of registration”.
“To make sure we have the finances to meet our regulatory responsibilities there will be regular and moderate fee increases in the future”, the GPhC added.
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And the regulator said that it is also “considering how changes...to the accreditation of education and training providers, the registration of pharmacist independent prescribers, and in the services provided by registered pharmacies may affect fees set in these areas in the longer-term”.
“These changes would aim to ensure fairness and proportionality in fees while addressing evolving regulatory needs,” it added.
“Necessary” fee increase
The GPhC stressed that it is “experiencing a significant increase in its operational costs driven by higher rates of inflation and increases to utility bills, National Insurance contributions (NICs) and supplier costs”.
It acknowledged that many fee payers “are subject to the same sorts of costs pressures”.
But it said that “significant” increases in the number of fitness-to-practice (FtP) concerns – which have doubled in the last two years – had increased workload and costs.
Read more: GPhC approves multi-year, flat rate pharmacist and pharmacy technician fees
“We understand that these proposed fee increases come at a time when many people within pharmacy are experiencing increased financial pressures,” GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin said.
“But we believe that the fee increases we are proposing are necessary so that we can fulfil our statutory duties and provide assurance to the public,” he added.
“No alternative”
“We are currently in deficit and our financial projections show that this will remain and increase over the next five years,” Rudkin said.
“This is not sustainable and alongside measures we are taking to reduce expenditure and lower our reserves, it leaves us with no alternative but to raise our fees,” he added.
Rudkin, however, reassured the pharmacy sector that the regulator is “doing everything [it] can to keep these proposed fee increases as low as possible”.
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The GPhC previously proposed a registration fee hike of 7.5% in May 2023 and pharmacists at the time reacted with dismay.
That August, the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) published its response to the fee hike consultation, arguing that the regulator’s reasoning behind the decision was “wholly inadequate”.
The pharmacy regulator, however, then announced in November 2023 that it was going ahead with the plans to raise fees, which took effect in April last year.