09 December 2025
The national negotiating body for eye care has described the outcome of General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) negotiations as “very disheartening”– with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirming a 2.5% increase in GOS1 fees.
The Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee (OFNC) shared in a statement that all other payments and grants would remain at 2024–2025 levels, alongside NHS voucher values which were frozen earlier in the year.
The GOS1 fee will be set at £24.13 for 2025–2026, with the fee backdated to 1 April 2025.
OFNC chair, Paul Carroll, said: “Once again primary eye care seems to be singled out for unfair treatment despite the growth in the NHS budget and Lord Darzi’s independent recommendations about rebalancing NHS spending and rebuilding primary care. It is hard to fathom why, other than the low priority the NHS always gives to eye care outside hospitals.”
The announcement of GOS fees and grants follows seven months of discussions with NHS England.
The OFNC highlighted that while the negotiating body made a “very credible case” for at least a £25 sight test fee, this was rejected by NHS England on the grounds of affordability.
“NHS England therefore continued to seek to impose an unrealistic 2.39% uplift to the sight test fee, although this was later increased marginally to 2.5%,” the OFNC highlighted.
The OFNC explained that it could not accept this offer and the DHSC has now taken the decision to impose the below inflation increase on practices – with the sight test fee rising by only 60p.
“We have left officials in no doubt about how furious and disappointed practices and practitioners will be about this latest imposition given all the evidence shows that the real costs of a providing a sight test exceed £49, before counting the increases in national insurance, the national living wage and other taxes the government now requires primary eye care providers to fund,” the OFNC stated.
The OFNC added that this year’s negotiations have been “exceptional in many ways,” with NHS England not in a position to commence fee discussions until May – when budgets had already been set.
“We are therefore taking the step of publishing a timeline and summary of our engagement with the NHS below, with the usual link to official correspondence so that all practice owners can see the arguments put forward,” the OFNC noted.
The full timeline, including OFNC correspondence relating to the fee discussions, can be found within the OFNC statement online.
Clinical placement training payment
The OFNC confirmed that through separate discussions with NHS England and DHSC a clinical placement training payment will be available to GOS contractors who provide placements under the MOptom programmes at UK universities.
The payment is also available to contractors who provide pre-registration placements under the College of Optometrists Scheme for Registration until the scheme is phased out.
The rate of the payment will be the same as the pre-reg grant for 2025–2026 (£4010) but can be claimed in two half-placement blocks.
OT asks...
How much does it cost your practice to deliver a routine sight test?
Comments (5)
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Anonymous15 January 2026
Thats a fee cut then in real terms.
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Anonymous18 December 2025
I agree we need to be more vocal towards NHS England and so does the OFNC.
Our professional bodies are letting us down in not being aggressive enough in pushing for adequate fees for our professional time.
When the doctors have had nearly a 30% increase in pay and they still want more, complaining that they have not had inflation linked increases for the last 20 years or more. They threaten to go on strike and this pathetic government rolls over and gives in.Its the same for us we have been let down for the last 40 years with paltry fee increases.
The increases in national insurance contributions and national minimum wage have had a massive effect on smaller practices who often have a large concentration of NHS patients.These costs alone may well wipe out any profit for some smaller practices. Together with business rate increases, energy costs and insurance cost increases it is the perfect storm for the decimation of independent Optometry.
All of us now need to refer everybody to secondary care without doing any extra procedures that we are not paid for and let the government realise how much money Optometry can save the NHS in the long term if it’s properly funded.
Our professional bodies also need to step up to the mark and advise and support us in this fight going forward.
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DJJ12 December 2025
I'm certain every contractor will be annoyed by this, but how many have even attempted to do something to at least make a credible noise? Contact your LOC and request action - it's there to represent you. Book a session with your MP, they are elected to represent constituents. Mail every government official you can think of - Edward Scully and Samantha Jones details are easy to find. Do you have influencial patients who could help? If your MP is an optometrist, isn't it time to call them out on their innactivity and/or lack of impact?
The OFNC have the right intentions and provide significant data to back up this challenge, but they have no authority or power to make change happen. It's long past time for a different approach. We cannot strike and it would cause us all damage to hand back our NHS contracts, but we don't have to provide CUES/MECS, we don't even have to refer directly for cataract or glaucoma. Is it time to place this burden back into secondary care until they realise how important our contribution is, I'm certainly thinking about it, anyone else?
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Anonymous11 December 2025
No surprise there then. But when the SpeccyShops charge £20-£25 for a “sight test”, what did you expect? How can the OFNC argue it costs at least £49 to provide when the Muppets at the Multiples charge half this?
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Anonymous11 December 2025
The jolly green giant is ruining optometry. 50% plus goes to a low tax economy. Why isn’t anyone picking upon this. Also how can Wales and Scotland pay a realistic fee but NHS England not. Time to be more militant don’t do Mecs etc refer to NHS and clog the system we’re being taken advantage off. If resident doctors have no conscience why should we?
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