It has been a while since I first put together a finance update for all registrants. The aim back then was to answer the question about how your annual fee is spent by the register.
The RCT periodically sends out information via the registrars update. These are sent following the management board meetings which take place three times a year. We do this to keep registrants abreast of developments, but also to highlight matters which we need to make you aware of. As well as these I have also sent out updates on specific issues, such as the results of the CPD audit.
Often we receive little feedback from registrants about our communication, but following the last finance update, the IPEM office received an unprecedented number of emails thanking us for putting out this information. With this in mind, I feel it is about time we repeated this and provided you all with an updated explanation for how your registration fee will be spent by the RCT in 2020.
It is worth noting that IPEM supported the RCT financially for many years, however it is an important part of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) accreditation that the Register demonstrates that it can be self-sustaining, so we can no longer reply on IPEM to do this.
This diagram demonstrates how the £24.75 renewal fee is divided between the financial commitments of the register.
The largest part of the fee is of course the £15.29 each registrant contributes to the running of the register. This includes such costs as office overheads and the website and online register. However the largest percentage of this is for staff time, which is provided by IPEM but funded by the RCT.
It was not until I became involved with the RCT management board that I saw how much time and effort the hard working IPEM staff contribute to us. There are roles which are essential such as writing and updating our policies and procedures and also getting us through the annual PSA accreditation. They also have hours and hours of work each year processing renewals and the CPD audit. It should be noted that we are moving towards only accepting renewal payments by direct debit and this will help make the register more efficient.
Moving round the chart, the next segment is the £0.99 spent on management board costs. The management board consists of 12 people who meet 3 times per year at the IPEM national office in York to manage the Register. These costs are to cover members’ travelling expenses but the room is provided free by IPEM. In addition, a small amount is set aside in case management board members need to travel to attend other meetings such as the annual conference held by the Professional Standards Authority who accredit the Register.
RCT disciplinary panel costs are £2.72 per registrant. All members of the Professional Conduct Committee of the RCT undergo annual training for their role which is held at the IPEM national office; again a room, and the training itself, is provided free by IPEM. In addition, a small amount is set aside in case disciplinary panel members need to travel to attend hearings. We have seen an increase in the number of cases heard by our Professional Conduct Committee over the last few years and this is reflected in the large increase in this area.
PSA fees are the second largest spend at £4.63. This is the cost of annual accreditation by the Professional Standards Authority.
Audit costs – the annual CPD audit involves assessors attending the IPEM National Office to assess the CPD summary forms of registrants selected for audit. The costs relate to those assessors travelling to the CPD audit day held for 2 days in May at the IPEM National Office in York; a room is provided free by IPEM. The cost of the annual CPD audit is £0.42 each; however a lot of the background work prior to this is carried out by the IPEM office staff and is captured in the ‘Running the Register’ percentage.
Application assessments costs at £0.44 include the training of all RCT application assessors for their role. This takes place annually at the IPEM office where again the room is provided free of charge by IPEM.
Finally promotion and publicity cost each registrant £0.26 a year. This covers the print and design of brochures, leaflets and posters to promote the Register and to educate the public about the RCT’s accredited register as well as about the work done by Clinical Technologists. In addition, the cost of the certificates sent to new registrants once they have been successful in their application to the Register is factored in.
I hope this explains how your annual fees are spent and when these are compared to other voluntary registers, it shows the RCT is run very effectively and manages to keep its fees as low as possible.
Yours sincerely
Mr Iain Threlkeld
The RCT Registrar
