The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) "reluctantly" approved a registrant fee rise of 18% effective from 1 October 2019, following a public consultation at the end of last year. The fee rise will mean all RCOT members will be paying £16 a year more than previously to practise the profession.
Julia Scott, Chief Executive of RCOT, said: "It is disappointing to see HCPC coming to this decision following the widespread lack of support there was from the majority of respondents to the consultation. We understand the HCPC’s need to remain a financially sustainable organisation, but this should not be at the expense of their registrants and our members, who are providing life-changing services every day."
The news was released via a private statement to respondents to the consultation on 15 February, but has not been widely advertised.
Marc Seale, Chief Executive and Registrar of the HCPC, said in the statement: "… As a self-financing regulator we do not receive any ongoing funding from other sources. Whilst our Council has agreed to these increases, we continue to have the lowest fee of all the independent UK health and care regulators. This decision means we can continue to invest in our regulatory performance, specifically our efforts to reduce the length of time fitness to practise investigations take and develop our registration services to meet modern-day expectations."
The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) is still opposed to this decision, as we stated in our consultation response, published in December 2018.
Any individual RCOT members wishing to challenge this decision are able to contact their local MP and support the Early Day Motion (EDM) asking to have the issue debated in the Westminster Parliament.