General Optical Council

One week to go until GOC retention deadline

Tue 9 Mar 2010

The retention deadline for all fully-registered optometrists and dispensing opticians is just one week away. All full individual and business registrants must complete and return their retention application forms, along with the appropriate payment, by 15 March 2010. The payment for dispensing opticians is £280, and for optometrists, £325.

To date, 69 per cent of practitioners have successfully renewed their registration for 2010-11. This leaves 6,036 applications still outstanding. A £20 late application charge applies to registrants whose retention form and fee arrives after the 15 March, but before 31 March.

Those who pay by direct debit must still submit a completed application for retention form or face removal from the registers. Practitioners who fail to renew their registration will be removed from 1 April 2010.

Any full registrant who has not received their retention forms can download a form from the Registrants area of the GOC website, www.optical.org. Registrants can also track their retention application and download a receipt from the Registrants area.