In an open letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, we’ve pressed for fair treatment for the thousands of small businesses delivering dental care, who all now face higher wage bills.
The budget delivered a multi-billion-pound headline investment in the NHS. But there appears no support to insulate dental practices, whether NHS, mixed or private, from significant increases in overheads.
We know that many practices are already delivering NHS treatments at a financial loss. Failure to soften this blow will push more of them closer to the brink.
At a bare minimum, the same relief on National Insurance contributions that’s been offered to hospitals should be extended to primary care.
Labour pledged to “rebuild dentistry for the long term.” We’re clear the Treasury will ultimately prove the arbiter on whether that mission has any chance of success.
Instead of promised new investment to deliver manifesto pledges on urgent care, we have seen suggestions of a shift to just recycle existing budgets. Meanwhile, pay awards that looked generous on paper look set to fail to reflect the soaring expenses colleagues now face, and are now seven months’ late with no timeline for implementation.
Practices are running on empty, struggling to recruit and retain staff. The real reform this service desperately needs, and the Government has promised, will need to go hand in hand with fair and sustainable funding.