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NHS dentists' average remuneration
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Last modified date:8 February 2007
Question
I write to request under the Freedom of Act where the figures for average NHS Dentists' remuneration are calculated and verified from.
In November last year the following was recorded in Hansard (22 November 2005):
Ms Winterton: My Hon Friend is right to point out that if a dentist makes a reasonable commitment to the NHS, they can expect to receive about £80,000 in pay plus another £60,000 in business expenses, which is not an unreasonable salary.
By this month the calculation of expenses had risen to £80,000 to £90,000 for expenses.
Therefore please supply the source of this information, and who has independently verified these figures?
Response
The estimates of average earnings and expenses for dentists are calculated by the NHS Information Centre, based on data on gross fees and payments from the Dental Practice Board and data from HM Revenue and Customs on expenses.
Dental Practice Board payment data shows that on average, a dentist with a reasonable NHS commitment in 2004/05 in the General Dental Services (GDS) received gross GDS income of about £154,350. At 2005/06 remuneration levels, this would be a gross GDS income of around £159,600. Dentists with a reasonable commitment are defined as those with gross fee earnings of £59,100 or more.
HM Revenue and Customs information from dentists' tax returns show that the average expenses ratio for a highly committed NHS dentist is around 52% (2003/04 tax year). The same source gives average net income of a highly committed NHS dentist from all sources as £78,600 in the tax year 2003/04 which would equate to an average of about £83,600 in 2005/06.
Based on the 52% expenses ratio, a reasonably committed dentist with a gross NHS income of £159,600 would have an average expenses element of £83,000. Taking all the above data into account, the Department estimates that a highly committed dentist is likely to have an average net income of around £80,000 in 2005/06, which (again using the 52% expenses ratio) would mean an average expenses element of around £87,000.
The earlier estimate of £60,000 for expenses was used mistakenly, and we apologise for any confusion caused.
These are of course average data. The expenses element for an individual dentist will obviously vary depending on the mix of treatment they provide and on their practice arrangements.
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