Registration fees for pharmacy premises to increase from April 2021

The General Pharmaceutical Council announces revised fee structure for registered pharmacy premises with effect from 1 April 2021

The governing council of the GPhC has agreed to increase the registered pharmacy entry and annual renewal fees from £262 to £365, to reflect the cost of regulating each pharmacy premises. 

The Council’s decision follows a consultation on fees for registered pharmacy premises, which ran from January to April 2020. Stakeholders were asked for their views on whether fees for pharmacy premises should be charged according to how much it costs to regulate them. The GPhC received over 1700 responses to the consultation and has published a report summarising the feedback [568KB] that was received.

The consultation proposed that the increase in fees would come into force in October 2020. However, due to the pressures experienced by the pharmacy sector during the coronavirus pandemic, the Council decided to delay bringing in the fee increases until April 2021.

There are no immediate plans to change fees for pharmacy professionals.

The consultation also sought initial views on the areas that the GPhC intends to look at as part of its long-term fees strategy. The next stage of this strategy will involve a consultation looking at the feasibility of differential fees for individuals, a multi-year fee cycle and charging for the accreditation and re-accreditation of all training courses. 

GPhC Chief Executive Duncan Rudkin said:

“We would like to thank everyone who responded to the consultation on fees for registered pharmacy premises. As part of its decision-making process, our Council has carefully considered consultation feedback, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the overall cost of pharmacy regulation.

“We have had to make this increase to make sure fees cover the cost of regulating each pharmacy premises, which is now £365 a year. The revised fee structure will begin in April next year to provide time for pharmacy owners to prepare for this change.”
 

Notes

  1. We received a total of 1716 written responses to our consultation. 
  2. 1524 of these respondents identified themselves as individuals and 192 responded on behalf of an organisation.
  3. The cost of regulating each pharmacy premises is £365 a year, based on 2018/19 data.
  4. The new fee structure for registered pharmacy premises will begin on 1 April 2021.