BDA tells GDC:“We'll see you in court”
The BDA has promised to see the GDC in court before the turn of the year after the troubled regulator voted for a 55 per cent increase for dentists Annual Retention Fee (ARF).
The association announced earlier today (30 October) that its application for a fast-tracked judicial review had been granted. It will take place at some point between 1 and 16 December this year.
The GDC this afternoon voted on the new ARF for dentists and DCPs, with the new rate for dentists rising 55 per cent to £890, but dropping to £116 from £120 for DCPs.
Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association’s Principal Executive Committee, said: “This afternoon the GDC’s Council sat down to pick from three shades of fee hike. Over the last four months the regulator has spectacularly failed to make a case for any of the options on the table. Each of these models emerged after a car crash consultation, and we see little point in debating their relative merits.
“The GDC steered well clear of the only tough choice in front of it: to acknowledge mistakes had been made, and to go to back the drawing board in 2015. We are not surprised by that decision, and it means the regulator will finally have to defend its shabby consultation in court.
“Today our call for fast tracked legal proceedings has been accepted. There was never any case for delaying the court case, as the GDC has tried to do. This mess is entirely of the GDC’s own making, and we will ensure its decision is tested by a judge before dentists are legally obliged to pay their fees on New Year’s Eve.”
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