GMC wins annual retention fee increase
3 October 2008
The BMA has lost its high court battle over charges for retired doctors to remain on the Medical Register.
A judge rejected the association’s claim that the GMC acted unfairly when it stopped exempting doctors over the age of 65 from the ARF (annual retention fee) of £390.
Judge Mr Justice Burnett also turned down the BMA’s request for an appeal and for the disclosure of legal advice given to the GMC and minutes of its internal discussions.
But the judge said the door had been left open for finding alternative arrangements, such as exemptions based on doctors’ length of service, should the law allow them.
BMA council chairman Hamish Meldrum said: 'The BMA is disappointed that the high court has not agreed with the BMA’s view on this matter.
'We felt it necessary to pursue this case on behalf of the thousands of retired doctors who have given years of service to the NHS and felt let down by the changes to the ARF by the GMC.
'The BMA will consider the details of this judgement and has not ruled out the possibility of an appeal.'
Lack of consultation
The BMA had argued that the GMC had abused its power by announcing in May this year that it would begin charging retired doctors the full ARF without any consultation.
The GMC said it had no choice but to introduce the charge because exempting doctors over 65 was illegal under age discrimination laws.
The high court said the GMC was not acting unfairly because it had never consulted before when raising registration fees, and it would have been too time-consuming to do so over the ARF given that continuing with the exemption would have been illegal.
The GMC said: ‘We are pleased that the court has upheld as lawful our decision to withdraw age exemption from the annual retention fee.
‘We will be writing to doctors affected by the change about the action they need to take to continue or relinquish their registration.’