English

Pay for contract-holding dentists fell by over £10,000 on average in 2010/11

Report this content

- New figures also show pay for non contract holders fell by nearly £3,000

Average pay for self-employed dentists who hold a primary care contract fell by £10,900 to £117,200 in 2010/11, new figures show.

The decrease is detailed in one of two new reports published today by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). The other report, on dentists’ working hours to 2011/12, suggests their average weekly hours have gradually increased.

Dental Earnings and Expenses, England and Wales, 2010/11 shows in 2010/11 taxable income (gross earnings minus average expenses) from NHS and private dentistry was:

  • £117,200 for self-employed primary care dentists who held a contract with their primary care trust (England) or local health board (Wales) – known as providing-performer dentists (who make up about 28 per cent of the primary care dental workforce). This is an 8.5 per cent decrease from £128,000 in 2009/10.
  • £62,900 for self-employed primary care dentists who work in a practice but do not hold a contract – known as performer only dentists and who make up the majority (about 72 per cent) of the primary care dental workforce. This is a 4.2 per cent decrease from £65,600 in 2009/10.

The report also shows, considering both groups together:

  • 59.8 per cent earned a taxable income of less than £75,000 in 2010/11 compared to 55.8 per cent in 2009/10
  • 1.1 per cent (240 dentists) earned a taxable income of at least £300,000 in 2010/11, compared to 310 (1.5 per cent) in 2009/10.

Dental Working Hours, England and Wales, 2010/11 and 2011/12, also published today, is based on a survey sample of both full and part time providing-performer and performer only dentists carrying out NHS work in primary care. It provides context to the earnings figures and suggests:

  • Between 2006/07 and 2011/12 there were gradual increases in average weekly hours. For providing-performer dentists hours increased from 39.6 to 41.9 hours (with a smaller increase for performer only dentists), the main factor being a gradual increase in the proportion of time spent on non-clinical work (23.8 per cent in 2011-12).
  • In 2011/12, providing-performer and performer only dentists reported working an overall average of 37.5 hours per week in dentistry, of which 28.1 hours (74.8 per cent) were devoted to NHS dental services. The remainder, 25.2 per cent, was accounted for by private dentistry.

HSCIC chief executive Tim Straughan said: “Today’s figures show dentists on average have seen a drop in their income, with those that hold a contract with a Primary Care Trust or Local Health Board seeing a fall in 2010/11 of over £10,000.

“This information will of course be of use to dentists but also other groups including the public and policy makers. Coupled with today’s other report that suggests a gradual increase in dental working hours, this information highlights changes taking place to the working lives of primary care dentists.”

Dental Earnings and Expenses, England and Wales, 2010/2011 presents earnings and expenses results by Strategic Health Authority in England, age and gender. It is at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalearnexp1011

Dental Working Hours, England and Wales, 2010/11 and 2011/12 is at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalworkinghours1012

ENDS

Notes to editors

  1. HSCIC was previously known as the NHS Information Centre. It is England’s authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The HSCIC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
  2. A new dental contract was introduced in England and Wales on 1 April 2006. One element of the new contractual arrangements was a move away from paying dentists for individual treatment items to a system whereby dentists are remunerated for an agreed level of dental activity. They have moved away from a retrospective payment system to one which they are paid in monthly instalments.
  3. The reports for England and Wales were agreed by a joint working group made up of the HSCIC, and representatives from the Department of Health, the Welsh Government, the British Dental Association, the Secretariat for the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body, the NHS Business Services Authority Dental Services, and the National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers.
  4. The dental earnings report considers all self-employed primary care dentists who carried out some NHS activity in England or Wales during 2010/11. This population is split into two cohorts and results are displayed for Providing-Performer dentists, who contract with Primary Care Trusts or Local Health Boards to provide an agreed level of dental services and also perform dental services, and for Performer Only dentists, who perform dental services but do not hold a contract with a Primary Care Trust or Local Health Board. Average income before tax is made up of gross earnings less expenses.
  5. The population is sourced from data provided by NHS Dental Services, with the initial inclusion criteria being those dentists who reported having undertaken NHS work during 2010/11. In some cases, a subsequent sample was determined from the results of the ‘Dental Working Patterns Survey', administered to all dentists (who had some NHS activity recorded within 2010/11 or 2011/12) across England and Wales. The source for the data in respect of earnings and expenses is the self assessment (SA) tax return held on the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) SA system, which covers earnings from all self-employed sources, including private practice. Analyses were carried out on an anonymised tax data for dentists with an accounting year ending in the final quarter of 2010/11 by HMRC statisticians; only aggregated non disclosive data were supplied to the HSCIC.
  6. The results in the ‘Dental Earnings and Expenses, England and Wales, 2010/2011’ report are estimates based on samples, and therefore each figure has a small margin of error. Differences highlighted in this press release by stating percentage increases or decreases are 'statistically significant', which means that the statistical analysis suggests that the differences in the estimates reflect true differences rather than possibly being the effects of sampling error.
  7. The results in the dental working hours report were determined from a survey, the ‘Dental Working Patterns Survey’, administered to all dentists who had some NHS activity recorded within 2010/11 and/ or 2011/12 across England and Wales. The survey only considered time spent in primary care dentistry. The populations are estimated from data sourced from NHS Business Services Authority Dental Services. The statistical significance of the difference between groups and sub-groups of dentists is not at present known. The figures are however presented as context. The trend in time do shows a consistent pattern.
  8. For media enquiries please call 0845 257 6990 or contact mediaenquiries@ic.nhs.uk