LOCSU levy reduced by 20% for the next three years

The Local Optical Committee Support Unit (LOCSU) has reduced its levy from 0.5% to 0.4% for the next three years.

The 20% reduction in the amount Local Optical Committees (LOCs) pay the organisation is part of LOCSU’s 2025–2028 Strategic Plan, and will remain in place until April 2028.

The reduction “recognises the financial pressures experienced by LOCs and local contractors, and the current financially driven NHS environment in which we all operate,” LOCSU said.

“There are financial pressures as well as activity pressures across the whole of the NHS, and eye care is no different,” the organisation’s chief executive, Janice Foster, told OT.

“LOCs are a vital part of the system, and they are feeling the squeeze. Eye care has been grossly underfunded for quite some time, and many of the costs to provide the services are outweighed by the cost to deliver them,” Foster said.

She cited increases in National Insurance payments and utility costs as contributing to a picture where pressure on the eye care sector is growing.

The organisation noted that support for LOCs will not be decreased as a result of the reduction, but that savings will come from further streamlining of processes and increased use of digitisation.

This is likely to include increased used of automation in back-office functions, Foster said, “to enable us to pass on the savings to LOCs, or be able to provide greater support at no additional cost.”

Annual income and expenditure reviews will also be undertaken to ensure that the levy remains at the lowest level possible, Foster said.

Focus and vision

The LOCSU levy is calculated by how many General Ophthalmic Services eye examinations contractors who are members of a particular LOC perform annually.

The levy funds LOCSU’s central support services, including payroll services and work with national sector bodies. The reduction will see LOCSU take in £276,000 less income annually.

Financial modelling has been carried out to ensure that the reduction can be held for a minimum of three years and is sustainable, Foster told OT.

“LOCSU is acutely aware of the current volatile eco-political landscape and [we] trust [that] this reduction in the LOCSU levy helps to support LOCs, contractors and performers as they work to maximise primary care optometry opportunities across England,” she said.

A large part of this is enabling contractors the time and resources to influence eye care services on a local level, whilst also enabling them to continue delivering quality eye care services.

It is about “finding the most efficient, patient-centered approach to bring about the three big shifts that the Government talks about,” Foster said.

The three big shifts, as outlined by Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting, focus on moving care from hospital to community, from treatment to prevention, and from analogue to digital.

Foster cites a backdrop of NHS disruption and cost-cutting in Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) contributing to “the biggest change for the NHS since 2013.”

For LOCs, this means “maximising the opportunities to shine a light on the big part that eye care can play,” Foster said.

Eye care is an integral part of the Government’s neighbourhood health plan, she believes.

“When we think about that shift from hospital to community and from treatment to prevention, eye care and optometry practices across the country are already contributing to both of those,” she said.

She cited ongoing prevention work, including diabetes screening in some community practices, as clear examples of how optometry is already working towards the Government’s neighbourhood healthcare vision.

“The community that they talk of already exists in High Street optometry practices,” Foster said.

She added: “We don’t need to build more. What we can do is focus. LOCs need to draw that focus to better utilising and resourcing of what we have. That will help to bring about the reality of the Government’s drive.”

A long-term vision

LOCSU’s 2025–2028 Strategic Plan will be published in full in mid-April.

It will focus on enhancing operations, and further enabling LOC’s influence with ICBs, “including sitting around the table with local decision makers and making a difference to some of those resources and services commissioned currently, and those discussions that are happening here and now,” Foster said.

The strategy will also focus on development, “having an eye to the future,” Foster explained: “What is coming over the horizon, and how can we make a difference and prepare ourselves, our LOCs, our contractors, and the sector, for what might be the next big thing in three, five, or 10 years’ time.”

Shamina Asif, chair of Dudley LOC, welcomed the levy reduction.

The reduced rate will enable the LOC to reduce its statutory levy on contractors and will help to reduce financial overheads at a time where practices are experiencing increased pressures from other sources, Asif said.

She added: “We are hoping we will still receive the same standard of service from LOCSU, as we still need good support and value for the fee we pay.”

Foster emphasised that LOCSU is “very much a support unit, and it is really important that we offer value for the levy.”

“This levy reduction forms part of the strategy, about trying to do as much as we can for as little cost as possible, so that we make sure we’re investing back into contractors, LOCs and others, and not taking money out of an already stretched sector,” she said.

Maryna Hura, a dispensing optician and secretary of Leeds LOC, also welcomed the news.

“It is a welcome reduction – LOCSU support is greatly valued and its recognition of challenging times in the optical sector by this reduction demonstrates its commitment to contractors and LOCs,” she told OT.