Renewal FAQs

To renew your membership, please choose one of the following convenient ways to pay your 2024 fee:

• Log into your MyAOP account to make a secure credit or debit card payment
• Call 020 7549 2010 and choose the automated payment option to pay by phone
• Submit your bank details in your MyAOP account to pay by monthly, quarterly or annual Direct Debit instalments

The AOP accepts all major credit and debit cards, except American Express.

To change the bank account your membership fees are debited from, please log into your MyAOP account. Once logged in, navigate to ‘View or change my Direct Debit details’ under the membership tab, add your new bank details and select ‘Process’.

Please contact the membership team at [email protected] to request a Direct Debit mandate, or for a payment via bank transfer, the AOP bank details.

Receipts are available to download, please log into your MyAOP account and select the receipt tab.

Membership certificates are available to download from Friday 5 January 2024. Please log into your MyAOP account and navigate to the membership tab to download your certificate.

If you are planning to retire in 2024, don’t forget to let us know. If you are retiring from all work (optometry and other) and plan to remove yourself from the GOC register from 1 April 2024, you may be eligible for our newly retired membership grade. Please email the membership team at [email protected] for full details.

The full range of available membership grades can be found on our website at membership rates.

Please contact the membership team at [email protected] to request a grade change.

If you are taking maternity, paternity or adoption leave, providing you have been a member for 12 consecutive months, you will be eligible for our parental leave grade.

The parental leave grade can be implemented on receipt of a MATB1, adoption or birth certificate and will commence from the first day of the month your child is due or birth month up to a maximum of 12-months. Fees for the remainder of the calendar year will be pro-rated.

To cancel your AOP membership, please email the membership team at [email protected]. Please include your membership ID and the reason why you wish to cancel.

As a non-member, you will no longer be covered by our range of insurances or have access to the membership benefits which are available to active AOP members including:

• Defence for any GOC matters, NHS investigations and patient complaints
• Employment support advising on all employment matters, including contracts, redundancy, performance, discrimination, and able to arrange representation at internal meetings
• Access to clinicians for any clinical or regulatory queries that you would like to speak with someone about
• Optometry Today in print, online and the range of OT CPD activity
• AOP’s free to attend education programme, which ensures members are kept up to date in all areas of their work and provides access to all required CPD points

A cancellation will be accepted once the initial 12-month membership period has been completed. A membership will cease from the date a cancellation notification is received.

Our Full UK, Full Concessionary and Newly Qualified membership grades are not role specific and provide a range of benefits and insurances which protect you in case of claims arising from allegations of negligence and fulfils the requirements of the Opticians Act 1989 for optometrists and dispensing opticians to have insurance to practice in the UK.

In addition to our insurance cover, the AOP provides support services to locum members, including targeted locum events and webinars, locum register and vacancies list, and our online locum logbook.

Our range of membership grades for employers and business owners in the UK, Channel Islands and the Republic of Ireland, offers protection against the acts or omissions of its employees.

Optometrist practice owner

Our Full UK membership includes vicarious liability cover for optometrist employers and business owners on the condition that all employed and engaged optometrists are AOP members.

Dispensing optician practice owner

In addition to our range of insurances, legal services and other member benefits, DO employers and business owners benefit from vicarious liability cover as part of our DO practice owner membership grade. Available on the condition that all employed and engaged optometrists are AOP members.

Lay practice owner

Available to lay practice owners in the UK, Channel Islands or the Republic of Ireland, to insure the practice, should it be sued because of an act of omission by one of its staff. Only available on the condition that all employed and engaged optometrists are members. Lay Practice Owners are able to access the AOP and OT website but are otherwise not eligible for any membership benefits aside from medical malpractice insurance.

For public liability insurance, members have access to specialist financial advice and preferential rates on essential insurance services, delivered through our affinity partner Lloyd & Whyte.

Members who are Independent Prescribers (IP), are automatically covered through our membership. The level of cover provided is stated on the insurance page. It’s your duty as an IP to practise within your own skill and competence.