Dentists Warned to Pay Annual Fee or Risk Removal from Register
Dentists have been warned that they must pay their Annual Retention Fee on time or risk being removed from the General Dental Council register.
Dentists must pay the fee by midnight on the 31st December in order to remain on the register. If they fail to do this, they will be removed from the register, which means that they cannot practise. It is illegal for dentists who are not on the GDC register to practise and it takes a minimum of 14 days to be reinstated onto the list.
In light of the impending deadline, dental defence firm, MDDUS, has issued a warning to all dentists and encouraged them to pay their fee as soon as possible. Dentists who continue to work after the deadline without paying must explain why this has happened and pay an additional fee to reinstate their name on the register.
Often dentists unintentionally miss the payment because they have forgotten to update their bank details and Doug Hamilton, an adviser from MDDUS has advised dentists to check their account details in order to ensure that the payment goes through successfully. It is possible to set up a direct debit, which makes it easier for dentists; the payment will come out automatically, so there is no danger of forgetting to pay the fee.
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