97 per cent of profession rejects proposed ARF rise
Out of more than 4,000 responses to the GDC’s controversial consultation on proposed increases to the Annual Retention Fee (ARF), 97 per cent have rejected the intended 64 per cent fee rise.
The BDA has argued that this statistic, allied with the thousands of comments provided by dental professionals across the UK, points to a fundamental crisis in confidence in the regulator.
Mick Armstrong, chairman of the British Dental Association’s Principal Executive Committee, said: “We have been reading through 183 pages capturing the views of dental professionals across Britain on the GDC’s planned ARF hike.
“The overwhelming majority of those who responded do not feel the GDC has made anything resembling a case for a super-sized fee rise. Indeed, over half of respondents said they would like more information. But there are bigger and more fundamental questions raised here, about a regulator that is already failing to provide value for money.
“Today (18 September), the GDC Council meets to discuss next steps, and these documents are required reading. An executive summary simply cannot do justice to the thousands of voices from across the profession that have simply lost trust in their professional regulator.
“I want to express my personal thanks to everyone who took the time to complete this consultation. This is about more than an unjustified fee hike. Each and every one of you have provided documentary evidence on a regulator that is simply not fit for purpose.”
Key stats
Three key statistics from the consultation document. To read the responses in full, click here.
We said we would provide a clear account of our resource needs for 2015, do you agree we have?
- Yes – 34%
- No – 66%
We said we would provide a clear account of what we are doing to keep costs under control, do you agree we have?
- Yes – 20%
- No – 80%
Based on the principle that we will only charge dentists what it costs us to regulate them, do you agree that the ARF for dentists in 2015 should be £945 to enable the GDC to raise sufficient funds to deliver its statutory functions?
- Yes – 3%
- No – 97%
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