If you are a nurse, dentist, pharmacist or other healthcare professional
The same approach applies before every healthcare regulator. We quote a fixed fee for each stage of an NMC, GDC, GPhC, HCPC, GOC, GOsC or GCC case before it starts, stated plus VAT, with counsel included from the outset and expert fees quoted separately. Our pages for each profession set out the stages we price.
The first practical question a doctor facing a GMC case tends to ask is what the defence will cost. The usual answer in legal work is an hourly rate and an estimate that moves as the case does. That leaves you unable to plan. It also gives you a reason to hold back from calling your adviser when you most need to. Eloquia prices each stage of a GMC defence at a fixed fee instead. So you know the cost of the stage you are in before the work starts.
Why a stage is the right unit
Regulatory cases end at different points, and most end early. In its annual statistics for 2025 the GMC reported 13,465 concerns triaged and 997 cases opened for formal investigation. Case examiners made 184 referrals to a tribunal. A doctor whose case closes at triage should not pay for the work a tribunal case needs. And a doctor whose case reaches a hearing needs to know in advance what each step will cost. Pricing by stage matches the fee to the work the case requires. You pay for a stage only if your case reaches it.
The fee menu
We fix every fee below for the stage and state it plus VAT.
- Response to a GMC concern at triage: £2,500 plus VAT.
- GMC investigation to the Rule 7 response: £9,500 plus VAT.
- Interim orders tribunal: £4,500 plus VAT for each hearing.
- Medical practitioners tribunal hearing: £8,000 plus VAT for preparation and £4,000 plus VAT for each hearing day.
- Appeal to the High Court: £25,000 plus VAT.
- Police interview and pre charge representations, through our criminal defence partner: £15,000 plus VAT. The police interview and pre charge fee is the criminal defence partner firm's fee for its own work. It is agreed with that firm and paid to it, and Eloquia takes no share of it and pays nothing for the introduction.
- Employment tribunal defence: from £15,000 plus VAT.
The full menu, with what each stage includes, is on our fees and funding page.
Counsel from the outset, inside the fee
We involve a specialist barrister from the start of every case to give you additional support and advice. Every fee includes counsel. You do not receive a separate bill from chambers. Nor does anybody have to decide whether your case is serious enough to justify bringing counsel in. The barrister who will present your case reads the papers early. That happens while we write the response to the GMC, not a week before the hearing.
Decisions at the investigation stage include what to admit, which expert to instruct and what remediation to evidence. Those decisions shape what you can argue at a tribunal months later. So the advocate should have a say in them. Our guide to choosing a barrister for your hearing covers what to look for in that advocate.
A worked example shows how the menu adds up. Suppose your case goes to a five day tribunal after an investigation, with one interim orders hearing along the way. The fees would be £9,500 for the investigation and £4,500 for the interim orders hearing. Then add £8,000 for preparation and £20,000 for five hearing days. That makes a total of £42,000 plus VAT, with counsel included throughout. If the case examiners close the case at Rule 7, the total is £9,500 plus VAT.
What the fee does not cover
Fees do not include additional expenses such as expert fees, which we quote separately. An expert's report on the standard of your clinical care is often the most important document in a case. Its cost depends on the specialty, the volume of records and whether the expert must attend a hearing. We obtain a quotation from the expert and give it to you before we instruct them. We deal with other expenses, such as transcripts or travel, in the same way.
How payment works
You pay in stages against the menu, and we agree the terms for each stage before it begins. We do not offer conditional fee agreements, so our fee does not depend on the outcome.
Eloquia is developing a fee funding facility and a defence costs insurance product with insurance and finance partners. Details will follow.
On a GMC investigation, Eloquia acts for you at each stage on these fixed fees, with a specialist barrister involved from the outset. Police station work runs through our criminal defence partner firm, and High Court appeals through a regulated law firm we work with. Our fees and funding page sets out what each stage includes.
How this compares
In its member guide, the Medical Defence Union says that defending a GMC case can cost more than £50,000. What a fixed menu changes is that you can see the cost of the next stage before you commit to it. You can then decide with full information.
I founded and ran a law firm for 14 years before I sat as a judge. There I came to prefer a defined piece of work at a price agreed before it starts. This menu follows that arrangement.
Sources
- GMC publishes fitness to practise data for doctors (GMC annual statistical report 2025), Clinical Services Journal
- Fees and funding, Eloquia
- Concerns about fitness to practise: annual statistical report 2025, GMC
- MDU member guide: defending you (the costs of defending a GMC case can be more than £50,000), Medical Defence Union
