Your membership

Your subscription

The MDU is a not-for-profit mutual company, owned by our members. All subscription income is used to provide benefits of membership and meet the running costs of the company.

It is important that you keep your membership details up to date. This is easy to do online. You can download the MDU app to access your membership card and proof of membership as well as keep up to date quickly and easily with our medico-legal advice and guidance.

Over the years we have developed sophisticated actuarial, underwriting and clinical risk management capabilities enabling us to have an increasingly comprehensive and detailed understanding of the risk resulting from the clinical practice of each individual member.

As a reflection of the dynamic nature of medical practice and the claims environment, our calculation of risk is constantly evolving. This can result in subscription changes either up or down to reflect our assessment of the risk within each member's practice from year to year.

If you are a GP, consultant with private practice or dentist in general practice, your individual subscription is based on the amount and type of work you undertake as well as additional factors reflecting your career experience and work environment.

These additional factors can include:

  • past claims or potential claims
  • complaints and other professional difficulties (whether involving the MDU or not)
  • the length of your MDU membership
  • factors relating to your place of work and your professional responsibilities

It is important therefore that the information you give us about your past and current practice is complete, accurate and up to date. Failing to keep us informed of the type and amount of work you do, or changes to your practice, could affect your access to the benefits of MDU membership.

If there is any change in your circumstances or a change in your professional or personal situation which could possibly have a material bearing on your professional practice, or on your MDU membership, you must tell us immediately.

If you are a consultant with private practice you may be able to reduce the cost of your yearly membership subscription by making full use of our generous expenses allowance.

Refunds

Your subscription pays for one year's membership. If you want to cancel your membership early, we do not offer refunds unless there are special circumstances such as sickness, retirement or family leave, and we don't refund amounts of £10 or less.

Where a refund is due, we will usually make it to the person or organisation which paid the subscription with the same payment mechanism they used.

Customer service excellence

Our membership team is just a free phone call away. You can reach us between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday (except bank holidays). We can help you with any membership questions you may have.

We are proud that our team has been accredited under the prestigious Customer Service Excellence programme and provide high levels of service.

Customer Service Excellence 

Complaints

As part of our commitment to customer service excellence, we take complaints seriously and do our best to deal with them quickly and fairly. If you have a complaint, please contact:

Head of Membership Quality and Control
MDU Services Limited
One Canada Square
London E14 5GS

or visit themdu.com/complaints

Continuing your membership

About three weeks before the end of your membership year, you will receive an invitation to renew your MDU membership. We ask you to respond to us before your renewal date. However, we allow 28 days grace beyond the renewal date to allow you to pay. As long as you can confirm that no new incident has happened since the renewal date, which may give rise to a claim, we will honour the renewal terms.

If you pay by Direct Debit, all you need to do is check the renewal information and tell us immediately if there are any changes. This is quick and easy to do, simply login to My membership.

If you do not pay by Direct Debit and you do not respond to the invitation to renew, we will cancel your membership from the renewal date. We will send you written confirmation of this. If you then want to reinstate your membership, you can do this within 28 days of your renewal date at our discretion.

Discontinuing your membership

Occurrence based

If your membership is on an occurrence basis, if you leave MDU membership you can continue to request our assistance for incidents that happened at any time when you were a paying members of the MDU, even after you have retired.

Claims made

If your membership is on a claims made basis, if you take a career break, for example for parental leave, or if you leave MDU membership you will lose your right to request assistance for specific incidents that happened during your claims made membership which have not previously been notified to us, unless you arrange an Extended Reporting Period.

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