In a landmark judgement on 18 December 2014, the General Dental Council (GDC) was found to have acted unlawfully on setting professional fees.

The British Dental Association (BDA) initiated Judicial Review proceedings to prevent the regulator implementing a £15 million increase to the fees levied on the dental profession. The consultation behind the annual retention fee (ARF) rise has been deemed unlawful, but the judge declined to reverse the fee rise, their counsel citing the risk of 'administrative chaos' at the GDC.

Mick Armstrong, Chair of the BDA, said: 'We regret that it came to this, but there was so much more at stake here than just fees. We've seen patients and practitioners left in limbo for over 18 months when complaints are raised, and hearings with an average price tag of £78,000. We had to take action because health professionals should not have to subsidise failure at their regulator.

'This super-sized fee rise still stands, and now serves as a monument to the failures of health regulation. This case has revealed that a regulator, unaccountable to government, can be found to have acted unlawfully but still walk away with its ill-gotten gains. We are now looking to the Government to act.'

The BDA has written to the Department of Health to outline the worrying implications of this case.

The GDC responds

Responding to the outcome of the Judicial Review, the GDC said that it recognised that the judge found there was a procedural error in the ARF level consultation. However, it said that it was pleased that Mr Justice Cranston also recognised that the GDC 'has to be properly funded in order to carry out its duties to protect the public and that the error was not serious enough to require him to quash the consultation and the new fee'. The GDC reminded dentists of the 31 December fee deadline for 2014 in the same statement.

FGDP (UK): Fitness to practise processes must be changed

The Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK) said that the GDC must review its decision to raise the ARF given that their consultation was found to be unlawful, and said that it would be prudent for the GDC to change fitness to practise (FtP) processes.

Local Dental Committees: A pyrrhic victory for the profession?

On behalf of the coalition of Local Dental Committees (LDCs), Ian Gordon, Chair of North Yorkshire LDC, said: 'This could be seen as a pyrrhic victory for the profession in so far as GDC costs will be met by fees paid to the GDC by dentists – however, it was always about more than money and this result must be a springboard to substantive change in how the profession is regulated. It has to be remembered that despite the ARF increase the BDA won the arguments'.