Payment of Annual Fees

Important Information about Annual Fees information about Annual Fees and why you should pay your fees on time. 

Paying your annual fees is one of the many prerequisites of being a doctor who wants to undertake clinical work in the UK and sits alongside other essential requirements: 

  • Connection to a designated body  
  • Revalidation 
  • Fitness to Practice 
  • Conditions of employment/Training 

Why do doctors have to pay for GMC? 

By law, all doctors working in the UK must be registered with the GMC. Doctors must pay a fee for their registration and an annual fee to remain on the register. 

Doctors without registration and a licence to practise can’t treat patients in the NHS or in the private sector.   

What happens if you don’t pay the annual retention fee? 

If you miss the payment deadline, your name will be removed from the register. If you are not registered, you will not be able to practise in the UK. A list of those people who have been removed from the register for non-payment will be circulated to the NHS to enable them to keep their records up to date. 

What happens if I don’t pay my GMC fee? 

If you have let your registration lapse (for example due to failed payment), you will have to apply for readmission. You can only practise medicine in the UK if you hold a valid current registration with the GMC – so failure to pay your GMC fee would in effect mean that you were practising without a licence, which is illegal under the terms of the Medical Act. 

What are the current fees? 

Please see below link to the current fees that are payable and link to the GMC Annual Fees Portal. There are a range of payment options to spread the cost of the annual fee, including paying in quarterly or 10 monthly instalments by direct debit. The GMC give newly qualified doctors in their first five years of practice a discount on their annual fee, and they offer a 50% discount on the annual fee to doctors whose income is below a certain threshold. 

Current Fees 

How to pay your Fee 

We would strongly suggest that you set up a direct debit so this payment will go out automatically rather than needing to remember to make the payment when due. 

What will happen if I fail to pay my fees on time? 

  • The GMC do follow through with removal of registration for non-payment of annual fees. 
  • You will receive several reminder letters or emails asking you to pay your fees. 
  • You may also receive reminders via ESR (Electronic Staff Record). 
  • If you do not pay your fees, you will be advised that you are risking being removed from the register. 
  • The GMC will also inform your Responsible Officer/Designated Body that you have not paid your fees. 
  • You will then receive a notification letter stating that your registration has been removed (alongside your licence to practice). 
  • If removed from the register for non-payment you won’t be able practise as a doctor in the UK unless you apply to restore your registration and licence and pay your fee. 
  • You will be required to do the following: 
  1. Complete an online application.  
  2. Pay both the renewal fee and an additional restoration fee. 
  3. Request your RO to complete a ‘provision of medical services statement’ (known as the UD8 form).  
  4. You will also be required to undertake ID checks and further fitness to practice checks before your registration is restored 

Please kindly note that the above can take time and even once completed, you may have to wait several weeks before your registration and licence are restored.   

The implications of being removed from the register are:  

  • The Postgraduate Dean (also your Responsible Officer) and your employing organisation will be made aware. 
  • You will have to stop training and working in a clinical capacity immediately. If you are at work, you will be sent home. If you are not in work, you will be advised that you cannot return until your registration and licence have been restored.  
  • Your training will be delayed. 
  • Your employer could start dismissal proceedings as you have not maintained your registration and licence which is a condition of your employment. 
  • The Postgraduate Dean may also consider whether to remove you from the training programme. 

If you are late paying your annual fees and have been told you are at risk of having your registration removed, please contact us at england.revalidation.tv@nhs.net  as soon as possible for further guidance.