The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has committed to freezing registrants' fees until October 2014. However, the GPhC decided not to reduce fees for pharmacists and technicians, despite having exceeded its reserves target, because it faced "major policy and operational challenges", it said in a council meeting yesterday (February 7).

The GPhC forecast that it would deliver a surplus of almost £1.4 million for 2013-14, taking its reserves to £15.4m, almost £3m above target. This was despite last year's 10 per cent fee reduction, which caused its income to fall by £1m, a figure partially offset by government grants of £400,000.

The GPhC forecast that it would deliver a surplus of almost £1.4 million for 2013-14, taking its reserves to £15.4m	More on the GPhC Boots quizzes customers on P med self-selection Watchdog praises GPhC fitness-to-practise       procedures David Reissner: Why the GPhC wasn't first to POMs       scandal
	The regulator said it was now on a "sound financial footing" following the "considerable amount of fire-fighting" that characterised its start-up phase when it took over pharmacy regulation from the RPSGB in September 2010.

It reported making savings by taking measures such as purchasing legal services more efficiently and keeping salary rises below the level of inflation.

But the GPhC warned against taking action to reduce the build-up of reserves because of unknown future costs, such as revalidation and the government's review of pharmacy regulation and medicines legislation.

"The external pharmacy, health and regulation contexts will be, if anything, yet more challenging and uncertain than those we have faced to date and thus needs to be taken into account in terms of our medium- and long-term financial planning," the GPhC said in its council meeting papers.

It also cited the work involved in forging links with new NHS organisations as one of its key priorities for beyond 2014.

Pharmacists pay £240 for mandatory annual registration, technicians £108.