We were extremely disappointed to hear on Thursday that the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) had approved an 18% increase in registration fees from October 2019. This would mean that fees will have risen by 40% since 2014, outstripping both inflation and the pay of health and care staff.
This is in spite of widespread opposition to the fee increase from across the 15 health and care professions set to be affected. BIOS joined a wide range of professional bodies, unions and individual professionals to voice their opposition in the recent consultation. Indeed 90% of those that responded opposed the increase in the renewal fee.
However, the campaign to prevent this increase is not over. The increase still has to be approved by Parliament, though what is called a negative parliamentary procedure. This means that if enough MPs voice specific opposition to the increase, it can be debated and potentially overturned.
What can you do?
BIOS will be writing to politicians in the coming days to actively encourage them to oppose this increase but MPs are often far more responsive to the needs of their constituents. We are therefore joining with other professional bodies and unions to ask our members to contact their MPs and encourage them to sign an Early Day Motion (EDM) opposing the fee increase.
- You can read the EDM here.
- Find the name and contact details for your MP here.
- Write by email or post to you MP. You can download a template here.
- Let us know once you have written to your MP – [email protected]
