How the College Sets Fees 

Regulated health professionals like physiotherapists all pay registration fees – but how are these fees determined? 

The short answer is: carefully.  

Registration fees are the College’s primary source of funding, supporting nearly all the work required to regulate the profession in the public interest. This includes everything from registration and quality assurance, to operating our Practice Advice service and creating new resources.  

Because fees have a direct impact on physiotherapists, decisions about whether to change fees are not made lightly.  

In June 2026, the Board approved a new guidance document, Guiding Principles for Assessing Registrant Fees to support transparent, consistent, and evidence-informed decision-making. 

In this blog, we’ll give you an overview of those principles to help you understand how decisions about registrant fees are made. 

Our Regulatory Responsibilities  

As an Ontario health regulator, we have a legal responsibility to serve and protect the public interest. 

This is central to any decision about fees. We need enough money to carry out our core functions as a regulator while responding to changing expectations, emerging risks, and the evolving needs of the health-care system. 

“It is important to have the necessary resources to work to support competent, safe and ethical physiotherapy practice,” says Craig Roxborough, Registrar and CEO. “We aim to be thoughtful and responsible stewards of registrant fees, while meeting our regulatory requirements and maintaining financial sustainability.” 

At the same time, we strive to be a leader in regulation. This means investing in modernizing our systems, providing a high level of customer service for registrants, and creating supportive resources for practice.  

A focus on financial sustainability and how we can meet the commitments set out in our Strategic Plan help guide us as we make decisions about fees.  

Impact on Registrants 

Changes in registration fees have a direct impact on registrants, and any increases should be fair and predictable.  

College registration fees have remained the same for the past two years and are among the lowest of all regulated health professionals. In fact, today’s registration fee is similar to what physiotherapists paid around a decade ago. 

When making decisions about fee changes, the Board will take benchmarks like inflation into account.  

The Board also considers that regulatory costs should be shared between current and future generations of registrants. For example, it wouldn’t make sense to delay necessary fee adjustments if it would mean a large spike for physiotherapists in the future.  

Another guiding principle is that the ongoing costs of regulation should generally be shared by all registrants through registration fees, while costs associated with specific services should generally be paid by the people who use those services.  

Commitment to Transparency  

In approaching decisions about fees, the Board is dedicated to transparency. 

We recognize fee decisions should be based on clear principles and careful consideration. The guidance helps support that approach and provides a common framework for evaluating the factors that influence fee decisions. 

“The self-regulatory model relies on registrant fees to support the College’s public interest mandate,” says Board Chair Gary Rehan. “But we must be transparent with physiotherapists about fee decisions and accountable to the profession for any changes we make.” 

Our commitment is to communicate openly about any fee decision and explain the reasons behind it. We want registrants to understand how the decision was reached and the considerations that shaped it. 

As always, we welcome your feedback.  

If you have any questions about how registrant fees are set, please email communications@collegept.org.