DHSC Confirms 2% Increase to GOS Sight Test Fees

10 March 2022

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said it will increase GOS sight test fees in England by 2% from April 2022. This follows a 1.9% increase in April 2021. The GOS CET allowances and pre-registration supervision grants will also rise by 2%.

This year the OFNC again pressed DHSC and NHS England to address the chronic underfunding of the NHS sight test as well as to close the widening gap between GOS fees and inflation. At the time of the bid, the Bank of England was already forecasting inflation to peak at 5% in 2022 before correcting to 2% in 2024. As a result, the OFNC had proposed that the sight test fee should be increased to £23.26 (+7%) whereas DHSC is proposing £22.14.

The OFNC is acutely disappointed with this response and has left DHSC in no doubt that the proposed 2% increase will be a blow to primary eye care providers who have shown an active commitment to delivering health care throughout the pandemic to meet public needs and reduce pressures on secondary care.

With inflation rapidly rising month by month, the OFNC has made it clear to DHSC that this is a real term cut to funding and that the ongoing underfunding of primary eye care in England is likely to result in reduced capacity exactly when patients and the NHS need it most.

The DHSC has also laid regulations which will increase NHS optical voucher values by 2% from April 2022. Voucher values are an important patient benefit for those that need this support, and it is right that they are increasing after 6 years of being frozen and declining in real terms.

The Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee (OFNC) is the national negotiating body for eye care in England with the Westminster Parliament, the Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS EnglandNHS Improvement. It comprises the leaders of the UK representative bodies: ABDO, AOP, FODO and BMA (for OMPs) and works in partnerships with the College of Optometrists and the General Optical Council.