I recall receiving a letter from the CAA over 10 years ago stating that there is no charge for the signing of Cs of T and Cs of E as they were then, and that examiners should not make such a charge. They are of course acting on behalf of the CAA! I am not aware of any changes to this.
Nothing has changed.
People can obtain a "R" examiner authorisation for free from the CAA and go out and sign off certificates.
The "GR" costs money. However, a GR can conduct the PPL and IMC writtens and is entitled to charge for same - the CAA publishes an exam fee for such exams conducted by the CAA. Examiners can set their own fee for such exams.
Thus the cost of having a GR is recovered through charging for the written exams.
Signatures should be free except for the (very small) admin cost.....a postage stamp and some ink.
Examiners trying to recover the authorisation fee by charging for a signature should be reminded that the R examiner authorisation costs nothing.
Regards,
DFC