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Making a CET claim in England
The process to claim for a CET grant in England has changed in 2020, meaning applicants will need to complete the entire process online. Henry Leonard, head of clinical and regulatory at the AOP, breaks it down
4 min read 4
10 October 2020
What is a CET grant?
As we know, optometrists have to do a certain amount of Continued Education and Training (CET) over the three-year cycle to meet regulatory requirements. The NHS provides grants to those who provide GOS sight testing, in order to help them cover the costs related to this training.Under the current system in England and Wales, every individual optometrist has to claim the payment through an NHS contractor, such as their employer. The system in Scotland and Northern Ireland allows individuals to apply for the grant directly.
The grant is claimed in arrears, meaning the application window that is currently open allows you to make a claim for CET completed in 2019. The cap is set at £573.
How the process has changed
This year, the CET claims window for England opened on 1 August and will close on 30 November.For the first time, the process to claim CET grants will be entirely online. This means that postal forms will no longer be accepted, and that you will need to complete your section online first.
Who is eligible?
Optometrists and ophthalmic medical practitioners (OMPs) who perform General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) are allowed to claim a grant towards CET they have undertaken.
To make a claim within the window, during the relevant claiming period you must have:
- Been on the relevant ophthalmic list for at least six months
- Undertaken GOC-approved CET
- Performed primary ophthalmic services under a GOS contract.
Preparing to make a claim
To complete your section online, you’ll need to be registered with the correct roles on Primary Care Support England (PCSE) Online. If you want to make a claim for a grant within this application window, you need to ask your practice's user administrator to set you up and attach you to the practice you work at.Those wishing to make a claim for a CET grant in England must do so via a contractor. You are expected to claim through your employer if you’re an employee, but you’re not obliged to. Locums are advised to apply through a practice that they work for, but again they are not obliged to do this. If you work for more than one contractor and they have both given you paid time for CET, it is up to you whom you nominate, but you should check whether there are any CET clauses in your locum contract/s (if applicable).
If you’re approaching a contractor you have not worked for, you can reassure them of your eligibility by providing evidence of your CET activity, plus a written statement from an employer showing you’ve undertaken GOS sight tests.
If you cannot find a contractor to vouch for you, your Local Optical Committee (LOC) or Regional Optical Committee (ROC) may be able to assist.
Claiming as a performer
As a performer, you should:
- Log in to PCSE Online as a GOS Performer
- Select ‘Ophthalmic’ and click on ‘make a claim’
- Select ‘CET’
- On the declaration page, check your details, sign the declaration, and select ‘Save awaiting contractor signatory’
- Your claim will then be automatically forwarded to your contractor signatory to sign
- If you are also contractor signatory, once you have saved your claim you can read and sign the declaration and click ‘submit’ to complete.
Claiming as a contractor
As a contractor, you should:
- Log in to PCSE Online as a Contractor Signatory
- Select ‘Ophthalmic’ and click on ‘Search for a claim’
- Search for the claim using the drop-down menu
- Click ‘Open’ to view the claim
- Read and sign the declaration
- Click submit
- Your claim is now complete.
What about in the rest of the UK?
The CET claims window in Northern Ireland will open on 1 January 2021 and will close in March. The window in Wales runs from 30 September to 1 November. In Scotland the window will close on 30 November.
Comments (4)
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John White AOP17 December 2020
Thank you for your comment hilaryandmichael
As PCSE haven’t been able to resolve this for you, please contact the AOP's clinical and regulatory team for further assistance: [email protected]
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hilaryandmichael16 December 2020
My correctly completed online CET application has been with the PCSE for the past 3 months-the online application forms indicating the my grant has been "actioned"
My calls to the PCSE are responded to with a robotic and pre-scripted reply of
"the finance department will be e mailed on your behalf" but to no avail
I therefore draw the conclusion that that the PCSE is under instruction to withold all optometrists CET grant.
I would be interested to hear the AOPs' response to my suggestion and what action can be taken in the event this proves to be correct.
I have heard that numerous other Optometrists are having difficulties obtaining their payments
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Lucy Miller, OT Deputy Editor14 October 2020
Hi Bob,
Thanks for flagging this with us. We'd advise that you contact PCSE in the first instance if you haven’t already done so, as they'll be best placed to help.
If you're still having problems after speaking to PCSE, you're welcome to contact our clinical and regulatory team for further assistance: [email protected]
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BobHalsey13 October 2020
All well and good, but when I get to the declaration page I cannot enter my details to then sign and progress the claim.
I have been assigned Goc performer and signatory status, confirmed by pcse in message. I am getting very concerned at the delay in making the claim as I seem to be getting nowhere.
Can you contact them on my behalf
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