New Pay Cut for NHS Dentists Announced
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- Published: Thursday, 13 July 2023 18:54
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 2306
The good news is that NHS dentists now know what to expect in this pay round. After years of the Dentists and Doctors Review Body (DDRB) reports sitting in a ministerial in-tray before an announcement, this years figure is now known.
In his statement, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said: “I can confirm that today we’re accepting the headline recommendations of the Pay Review Bodies in full.”
The DDRB has recommended a 6% uplift. There had been doubts that the government would accept the review body recommendations, but even at 6% the award will not keep pace with inflation.
The BDA has criticised the award, pointing out that typical dental incomes have fallen by 40% from 2008/9 to 2020/2021, the biggest drop in the UK public sector.
With no confirmation yet of the practice expenses element the final settlement could represent a double blow. Dentists could fail to earn even the amount that the headline figure should deliver, as a result of expenses consuming a greater proportion of practice income, as Eddie Crouch pointed out:
And the below inflation uplift will mean a bigger cut if expenses are not entirely reflected in negotiations @TheBDA https://t.co/2NvmH2QWGd
— Eddie Crouch (@EddieCrouch) July 13, 2023
Unsurprisingly the BDA statement following the announcement stressed that the news would do nothing to fix the access crisis.
BDA Vice Chair Peter Crooks said: "The government should not expect applause for begrudgingly delivering a below inflation pay award to dentists and doctors.
"We’re already seeing NHS dentists delivering NHS care at a financial loss. All this decision will fuel is the mounting exodus from this service."
The recently announced NHS Long Term Workforce Plan contains the ambitious promise to increase the number of dental students by 40%, but todays announcement underlines the lack of any coherent plans to retain even the current headcount.
In the fight for better pay, dentists have been increasingly working together with their doctor colleagues. The Prime Minister had a clear message for them in his statement on the GOV.UK website:
“Do the right thing, and know when to say yes. In particular, for Doctors and Consultants, I would say this: We have a national mission for all of us to make the NHS strong again. The government has not only made today’s decision on pay, we’ve backed the NHS with record funding, delivered the first ever, fully funded Long-Term Workforce Plan, and met the BMA’s number one ask of government, with a pensions tax cut worth £1bn.
So, we should all ask ourselves, whether Union leaders - or indeed political leaders how it can it be right to continue disruptive industrial action?
Not least because these strikes lead to tens of thousands of appointments being cancelled - every single day and waiting lists going up, not down.
So: today’s offer is final. There will be no more talks on pay. We will not negotiate again on this year’s settlements. And no amount of strikes will change our decision.”
PM statement on public sector pay review: 13 July 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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