Dental Earnings and Expenses Estimates, 2021/22, provides a detailed study of the earnings and expenses of self-employed primary care dentists who undertook some NHS/Health Service work during the financial year. Figures relate to both NHS/Health Service and private dentistry and are shown for full-time and part-time dentists. Although the report contains analysis for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the values are not directly comparable between countries; this is due to differing contractual arrangements as well as the use of different methods to derive dental type in each country.
The analyses throughout this report are based on anonymised tax data for dentists with accounting periods ending in the fourth quarter of 2021/22 and effective as of the end of March 2022. The tax data cover self-employed dental income from all sources, including from private dental practice. Data on earnings from employment or for those dentists in private practice only are not included.
The report is primarily used as evidence in remuneration negotiations and by the Review Body for Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration. It has been produced by NHS England in consultation with the Dental Working Group which includes representatives from the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, Welsh Government, Department of Health Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Business Services Organisation, Scottish Government, NHS National Services Scotland: Information Services Division, NHS Business Services Authority Information Services, HMRC: Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence Division, the National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers and the British Dental Association representing the views and interests of dentists.
The first cases of COVID-19 in the UK were confirmed late January 2020 and the first UK-wide lockdown was announced in March 2020. Most routine dentistry was paused between April and June 2020. This was followed by a period of recovery and restoration of services throughout the remainder of 2020/21 and 2021/22. Differing but similar arrangements were put in place across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support dental practice income during 2020/21 and 2021/22. In addition, Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) payments were made by the government to eligible businesses that had been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic is also likely to have impacted on expenses incurred during this period. Details can be found in the results chapters for each country and the Interpreting Results sections of this publication.
Analysis shown in the timeseries files for previous years includes breakdowns by weekly working hours bandings using information from the biennial Dental Working Patterns Survey, however the Dental Working Patterns Survey was not run for 2020/21 and 2021/22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and these data are not available for 2020/21 and 2021/22.
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