Practitioners urged to accept ‘pending’ CET points

The General Optical Council (GOC) has issued a call to encourage practitioners to accept any CET points that they have pending in their MyGOC accounts before the end of the current cycle.

The regulator revealed that there are currently 55,764 pending CET points in registrants’ accounts.

It emphasised that points which remain unaccepted will not count towards a registrant’s 2016–18 CET cycle, which ends on 31 December. Points cannot be ‘saved’ for the next cycle, the GOC stressed.

Registrants have until 31 December to meet the CET requirements of the current three year cycle. Those who fail to meet the requirements by the deadline will be removed from the register, meaning they will not be able to legally practise in the UK.

Head of standards and CET at the GOC, Marcus Dye, said: “It is important that all registrants keep on top of their CET points so they are aware of their current total and can plan appropriately to meet all their requirements by 31 December.

“The practice of accepting points also allows registrants the opportunity to write reflective statements on their learning and can allow for registrants to choose if their points count towards a specialty or general requirement.”

2019 will be a transitional CET year for registrants before the introduction of a new CET scheme in 2020. During this transition year, which will run from 1 January to 31 December 2019, registrants are still expected to earn 12 CET points, six of which must be interactive.