Gross, expenses, net earnings all down

The NHS Information Centre has issued earnings statistics for 2009/10, covering England and Wales. For all self-employed primary care dentists in 2009/10 (compared with 2008/09):

average taxable income was Â£84,900, a 5.2 per cent decrease from Â£89,600
average gross earnings were Â£184,900, a 5.0 per cent decrease from Â£194,700
average expenses were Â£100,000, a 4.8 per cent decrease from Â£105,100

Please note: the figures include private work, but not the earnings of corporates.

Other statistics:
For Providing-Performer dentists (practice owners) in 2009/10:

average taxable income was £128,000, compared to £131,000 in 2008/09
average gross earnings were £370,900, a 1.2 per cent increase from £366,500
average expenses were £242,900, a 3.1 per cent increase from £235,500

For Performer Only dentists (associates) in 2009/10:

average taxable income was £65,600, a 3.1 per cent decrease from £67,800
average gross earnings were £101,700, a 2.2 per cent decrease from £104,000
average expenses were £36,100, compared to £36,300.

Of the 20,300 dentists covered in the report, 6,250 (31%) were practice owners, 14,050 were associates (69%). Compared with the previous year there were 550 fewer practice owners and 1,200 more associates. In addition there were 23% fewer PDS contracts, as dentists switched to GDS before their time-limited contracts ended.

Of all self-employed primary care dentists:

a majority (55.8 per cent) earned a taxable income of less than £75,000 in 2009/10
74.4 per cent earned a taxable income of less than £100,000 in 2009/10
1.5 per cent earned a taxable income of £300,000 or more in 2009/10

There are significant variations in the earnings of practice owners depending on their type of practice: