GDS Contract Uplift to be 4% for 2025-6
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- Published: Friday, 23 May 2025 17:10
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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The British Dental Association (BDA) has reacted with predictable dismay to the government‘s announcement of a 4% rise. A statement issued by Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Thursday 22nd May said "We inherited a broken health service with extremely low morale after years of pay erosion and poor industrial relations.
Despite the difficult financial situation facing the country, we are funding a pay rise of 4% for consultants, specialty doctors, specialists and GPs, with dentists also receiving a contract uplift to increase their pay."
The rise is above inflation, however, once costs are factored in dentists do not stand to gain.
The BDA dismissed the rise. In a statement it said ’Headline pay uplifts of 4% confirmed today will do little to halt the exodus from NHS dentistry, unless the Government is willing to cover the real costs of delivering care.’
It continued ’As we all know, a final figure factoring in dentists’ expenses, is still to come. The new Government must not follow in its predecessor’s footsteps by cherry picking measures of inflation that will likely fail to reflect soaring overheads and leave frontline dentists facing real pay cuts.
Additional costs brought by the recent rise in National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage, have increased dental practices’ wage bills by 9.5%. Even before these costs hit, a typical practice was losing over £40 delivering a set of NHS dentures, and over £7 on a simple new patient exam.’
During a House of Commons debate on dental access on Thursday, there were calls for dental practices delivering NHS care to be exempted from the recent rises in Employer’s National Insurance contributions.
Faster Payments
Mr Streeting’s statement did contain some good news for practice owners. The increase, which is being backdated to April 1st, will be paid in August 2025, it was claimed - much faster than has been the case in recent years where delays have exceeded six months.
Contract reform was cited by Mr Streeting, although no date for an announcement was made. The DoH statement confirmed that contract reform, when it came, would contain ’a focus on prevention and retention of NHS dentists’.
BDA’s Parbary Predicts Change, Or Exodus Continues
The BDA concedes that the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration ’deserves credit for refusing to be constrained to by the Government’s budgeted uplift of 2.8%’. But it went on to add that ’clearly the final uplift, when confirmed, will not even begin to undo the real terms collapse of over 40% in NHS dentists pay since 2010, a fall with no precedent in the UK public sector.’
Employed dentists will see a 4% uplift, with an additional £750 on pay scales for resident dentists working in hospitals the BDA calculates.
“On paper dentists are being offered an uplift of 4%,” says General Dental Practice Committee Chair Shiv Pabary. “The reality is they won’t see anything like this, unless ministers cover the mounting cost of care. Without real change, practices will remain stuck delivering NHS work at a loss and the exodus from this service will continue.”
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