Who pays to work? Registration fees

[Blueotter22]

Hello,

just posting here for traffic and hoping to gain some insight to other peoples professions really.

Im an allied health care professional and we’ve just been told that the HCPC are looking to increase our annual fees by 20% to keep up with inflation apparently.

For me, a single mum and band 6 NHS professional this means I’ll be paying £33 a month for my HCPC fees and membership to my professional body. £405 a year just to legally do my job. I think this is outrageous and unfair, especially when they haven’t justified exactly what they are spending their 33 million on (that’s how much the HCPC take in fees a year)

I can’t do my job without being a member of the HCPC and having indemnity cover. I either pay or find a job elsewhere outside of healthcare.

I understand it’s important to have the HCPC and a process to report unsafe healthcare workers etc. But we also have to pay for our DBS and rarely get dedicated CPD time to meet our HCPC standards. Yet we can be called upon for audit to show how we have maintained our CPD.

Anyways, it just got me thinking, which other professions pay to work and if you wouldn’t mind sharing - how much do you pay and what do you get for that?

I know nurses and social workers pay too but unsure their fees. Do accountants/ lawyers pay to be registered?

thanks so much in advance

P/T Employed dentist by NHS Trust, have never worked in general dental
practice.
GDC annual reg £690 (OP -it has been just shy of £900 in the past, there was outrage in the profession, for reasons such as you highlight in your opening post. The dentist's union-BDA- are continuously at loggerheads with the GDC). There are no reductions for P/T dentists, the GDC seems this a 'lifestyle choice'.
Also, Indemnity with the MDDUS which is £500 per annum.
Essential membership with the BDA union -£470 per annum.

So, just shy of £1700 annually just to work. My personal tax code threshold is adjusted to allow for the above -big wow !
Only the union fee is optional, but you never know when you'll need their assistance, so unwise to be union-less as a direct NHS employee.

No, the NHS Trust don't pay anything of the above.
OP you need to be a member of union who takes this proposed increase in your registration fees seriously and will fight it on your behalf.

@sunshineflowerdaisy
You ring HMRC Inland revenue and tell them you have fixed expenses to practice as an employed NHS HCP and you need your personal tax threshold adjusted. You'll then have to list all your professional fees and registrations. You may have to do a self-assessment if you earn over £100k -hospital consultant etc.

Thanks - and do you need to do it yearly?

Thanks I am also in the HCPC, received the email today and didn't read it properly. I will certainly be answering the consultation now. I don't mind a small increase but 20% when everyone is struggling with increased bills and a single figure pay rise? That's a joke.

I don't think you have to do it every year - you only need to tell them if the amount changes.

Posting in solidarity @Blueotter22, I think it’s a disgrace, especially in these economic times!

Dental therapist. £114 per year GDC registration fee - same for dental nurses, hygienists, dental technicians.

Indemnity I pay around £350/year.

I consider myself lucky in this in comparison to dentists, as several other dentists unthread have mentioned their fees are eye watering.

I'm a veterinary nurse and we have to pay £74 a year to stay registered and legal (I think the initial fee when you first qualify is higher).

Thankfully my employer pays their RVNs fees, but not all do. And vet nurses are sadly paid a pittance! 😢

optometrist:
registration is £360
insurance £500
college membership £290
my employed job doesn’t pay for it, but I’m SE for my other job(s) so tax deductible.
previoys employed jobs have paid.

@sunshineflowerdaisy
If you have to fill in self assessment in addition to PAYE, then yes but otherwise no if you don't have to do annual SA.

@Blueotter22 I'm a physio and I cancelled my CSP membership (union and indemnity) while on mat leave. It's £33 a month and I've been considering not rejoining on my return to work, as it's not an actual requirement of my job (just desired) like the HCPC registration is, and we are covered for liability/indemnity through the NHS. I checked (I think either on my work website or just good old google of NHS liability for employees). I feel uneasy not rejoining but it's a lot of money and I've literally never needed them for anything. Could you check what cover your work provides, and potentially cancel it if you weren't bothered about the uniony stuff?

£400 account- my employer reimburses in full but other than a magazine and the right to say I'm chartered I don't get much from it.

Lecturer, and pay £65 per year. We can’t claim anything back from work. I pay union membership separately and don’t grudge that.

I had been thinking of cancelling my RCOT membership, especially now others have mentioned indemnity is included with NHS, but I do feel having the safety net of being in a union is worth the money.

I’ve experienced the support of a union rep before and my sister is also a rep in her workplace, and for gobshites like me who speak up frequently it’s invaluable 😂

Im going to reach out to my area rep tomorrow and ask if they have any plan to challenge this and support the AHPs. I work in a department that is all OTs, Physios and SALTs so surely we can rally together and ask the trust to support us on this.

For salaried NHS employees, crown indemnity covers you if you harm a patient and they sue the trust. The compensation they would receive is covered.

What isn't covered is if they report you to your regulator, who brings a case against you. Or you have an issue in your personal life (a conviction for drink driving, say) that means a case goes to your regulator. And if you do end up facing a fitness to practise case you really do want cover so you have a lawyer in your corner.

I would always recommend that any clinician has their own personal indemnity on top of the crown indemnity the NHS provides.

I thought HCPC was mandatory. I didn't think you can't practice under the title of Physio, OT, SLT, Dietitian etc as they are protected titles which you need to pay HCPC for the privilege to use?

How much are you earning?

Oh, maybe that's what you were saying.........

£65 to GTCS (General Teaching Council for Scotland) and union fees are free

@Bluebirds1987, HCPC registration is definitely a requirement of my role, so that's worth double checking for yours.

@cariaaad @FlippertyGibberts it's my CSP membership I was talking about (chartered society of physiotherapy) not the HCPC. The HCPC is mandatory but the CSP, which provides extra indemnity as well as the union, is not.

My dd has just started and had to pay in Sept and then again in Dec. Seems very unfair to me.

Another NHS dentist here paying circa £400 a month just for indemnity and GDC membership. Sad to see we are ‘winning’ this thread

@GorillaTape ill answer if you want - I’m vast majority NHS work and making £55k full time (and I’m not newly qualified either)

I thought that when I first started but the ARF runs January to December so if you start mid year you have to pay for the months September to December and then pay again for next year in January