Dental Earnings and Expenses Estimates 2018/19

Data to determine who is a Principal and who is an Associate dentist is not available for dentists in Northern Ireland and Scotland. As a result a methodology to determine dental type has been devised in consultation with the Dental Working Group (DWG). A more detailed explanation can be found here. Please note that in 2017/18 the methodology was revised to allow dental type to be identified more accurately. Historically the expenses to earnings ratio (EER) information was obtained in 10 percentage point increments but following a consultation with the working group, this methodology was revised and 5 percentage point increments were used to determine the lowest point. This led to a 45 per cent EER being used to define the split in dental type for 2017/18, opposed to 50 per cent in 2016/17.

Following the same methodology this year, in 2018/19, there has again been a shift in dental population and so the EER has been set to 50 per cent - as was in 2016/17. Further work has been undertaken to see if the shift in EER used to identify dentists has had a significant impact on the taxable income of dentists. However, results show that this was not the case.

For Principal dentists in 2018/19 average taxable income from Health Service and private dentistry was £104,400 compared to £116,000 in 2017/18, a 10.0 per cent decrease.

For Associate dentists in 2018/19 average taxable income from Health Service and private dentistry was £58,700 compared to £52,300 in 2017/18, a 12.1 per cent increase.

The falling numbers of Principal dentists means that despite the large decreases in their earnings, the increased earnings of the far larger cohort of Associate dentists means that the overall population saw an increase even though numerically the higher percentage change in income of Associate dentists represents a far smaller amount of actual money.  

For all self-employed GDS dentists average taxable income from Health Service and private dentistry was £68,000 compared to £66,400 in 2017/18, a 2.4 per cent increase.

Table 14.1: All self-employed GDS dentists – average gross earnings and expenses from Health Service and private dentistry by dental type, Northern Ireland, 2017/18 and 2018/19

_{^{Note: 1. Small sample (<125) 2. Further explanatory notes can be found in the Introduction}}

Cash and real term figures

Please refer to the accompanying Power BI visualisation for a time series of taxable Income and total expenses for Principal and Associate dentists in Northern Ireland, from 2009/10 to 2018/19, in both cash and real terms. 

Report population changes

It is important to note that figure 14.2 represents the changing report population that is used in the annual earnings and expenses estimates reports and does not represent the actual dental population. See Introduction for further explanatory notes.

^{_{Note: Numbers shown are Earnings and Expenses Estimates Report populations and will not match those found elsewhere}}

Earnings and expenses estimates by percentage of gross earnings from Health Service dentistry

This section of the report looks at the earnings and expenses estimates of self-employed dentists by the percentage of total gross earnings from Health Service dentistry (Health Service gross earnings as a percentage of total gross earnings) for 2018/19. The measure is not comparable with the ‘percentage of time spent on Health Service dentistry’ presented in a later section, as the latter is based on a measure of time as reported by respondents to the Dental Working Patterns Survey, whereas figures in this section are based upon a measure of earnings.

The measure of percentage of gross earnings from Health Service dentistry is subject to some caveats: due to the arrangements in place for payment between Principal and Associate dentists, it is likely to contain a certain amount of overstating of an Associate’s actual level of income from Health Service dentistry, while the opposite is likely to be true for some Principals.

Furthermore, the measure is affected by the fact that some Principal dentists will receive additional income from the Heath Service for providing education for dentists in training (Assistants, Vocational Dental Practitioners (VDPs), and those in General Professional Training (GPTs). In most circumstances, and where the Self Assessment tax return has been completed correctly, this income will not be declared as gross earnings, but used to ‘offset’ the expenses incurred for providing such services. This income is, however, included as earnings in the data received from Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Business Services Organisation (BSO) for Health Service earnings. This means that for many dentists who provide such education services, the percentage of gross earnings from Health Service dentistry will be overstated.

It is not possible to quantify the extent to which the issues described above affect the results of the analyses, but any effect is likely to be minimised by aggregating results to the all dentist level, and by employing wide bandings of percentage of income from Health Service dentistry, as shown in this section.

For all self-employed GDS dentists in 2018/19:

• The lowest combined taxable income (from Health Service and private dentistry), of £52,600, was reported for those dentists whose Health Service earnings accounted for at least 75 per cent of their total gross earnings
• Those whose Health Service earnings accounted for 25 per cent or less, and between 25 and 75 per cent of their total gross earnings had taxable incomes of £93,200 and £102,300 respectively

Although sample sizes allow results to be presented for Principals, Associates, and all self-employed dentists, the small sample sizes of each subgroup mean that the values are subject to more uncertainty, as extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages.

Table 15.1: All self-employed dentists – average earnings and expenses from Health Service and private dentistry by dental type and percentage of gross earnings from Health Service dentistry, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes: 1. Total earnings from Health Service dentistry (based on BSO activity data from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019) as a percentage of total earnings from dentistry during the same period (based on HMRC Self Assessment tax return for 2018/19) 2. Small sample (<125) 3. Further explanatory notes can be found in the Introduction}}

Earnings and expenses estimates by gender

Although sample sizes allow results to be presented for Principals, Associates, and all self-employed GDS dentists, it is important to note that the small sample sizes of each subgroup mean that the values are subject to more uncertainty, as extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages.

The results show that in 2018/19:

• as in previous years, regardless of dental type classification, male dentists had higher average gross earnings, total expenses, and taxable income than their female counterparts
• for all male self-employed GDS dentists, average taxable income was £88,800, compared to £52,100 for all female self-employed GDS dentists

It is important to note that this report includes both full-time and part-time dental earnings and expenses, which – given that on average more female dentists work part-time and that male dentists also tend to work longer weekly hours than female dentists (Dentists' Working Patterns, Motivation and Morale - 2018/19 and 2019/20) – could be a contributory factor to the differences observed in earnings and expenses by gender.

Table 16.1: All self-employed GDS dentists - average earnings and expenses from Health Service and private dentistry by dental type and gender, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes:  1. Small sample (<125)  2. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report}}

For the purposes of this report, dentists’ ages were calculated as at 30 September 2018 – the mid-point of 2018/19.

It is important to note that given the relatively low dental sample sizes in each age band, extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages; the results may be subject to more uncertainty and differences may not be statistically significant.

Table and figure 19.1 show that:

• for Principal dentists, those under 35 years of age earned the lowest taxable income from Health Service and private dentistry in 2018/19 (£69,400, compared to £102,600 and £110,200 for those aged 35 to 44 and 45 and over respectively)
• consistent with trends shown in previous years, dentists under 35 had the lowest gross earnings, expenses and taxable incomes.

Table 17.1: All self-employed GDS dentists - average earnings and expenses from Health Service and private dentistry by dental type and age, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes: 1. Small sample (<125)  2. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report}}

Dental Working Patterns Survey findings: earnings and expenses estimates by working patterns

For all self-employed dentists, as the weekly working hours increase, so do gross earnings, total expenses and taxable income.

Table 18.1: All self-employed GDS dentists - average earnings and expenses from Health Service and private dentistry by dental type and weekly hours devoted to dentistry, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes:  1. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report 2. Small sample (<125)  3. The bands of weekly working hours changed in 2012/13 (from ≥35<45 and ≥45 to ≥35≤45 and >45) so caution should be used when making any comparisons to data before 2012/13}} 

Dental Working Patterns Survey findings: earnings and expenses estimate by gender and weekly hours devoted to dentistry

Table 18.2 shows earnings and expenses for self-employed GDS dentists by both the average number of hours they devoted to dentistry per week (including clinical and administrative work for both Health Service and private dentistry) and by gender. It is important to note that small sample sizes for some subgroups mean that the values are subject to more uncertainty, as extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages. Results for some subgroups have been suppressed due to very small sample sizes.

Table 18.2: Self-employed Principal dentists - average earnings and expenses from Health Service and private dentistry, by gender and weekly working hours, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

^{_{Notes: 1. Small sample (<125)  2. c: due to a small sample size results have been suppressed to ensure anonymity of results}}

Table 18.3: Self-employed Associate dentists - average earnings and expenses from Health Service and private dentistry, by gender and weekly working hours, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes: 1. Small sample (<125) 2. c: due to a small sample size results have been suppressed to ensure anonymity of results}}

The results in table 18.4 show that for all self-employed GDS dentists in 2018/19:

• male dentists who worked over 45 hours per week had the highest average taxable income at £136,900, compared to £95,000 for all male survey respondents
• by comparison, the group of female dentists with the highest average taxable income also worked over 45 hours per week. These dentists earned an average taxable income of £82,900, compared to £54,100 for all female survey respondents.

Table 18.4: All self-employed GDS dentists - average earnings and expenses from Health Service and private dentistry, by gender and weekly working hours, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes: 1. Small sample (<125) 2. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report 3.The bands of weekly working hours changed in 2012/13 (from ≥35<45 and ≥45 to ≥35≤45 and >45) so caution should be used when making any comparisons to data before 2012/13}}

Dental Working Patterns Survey findings: earnings and expenses estimates by percentage of time spent on Health Service dentistry

Table and figure 19.1 show gross earnings, total expenses and taxable income from Health Service and private dentistry for self-employed dentists broken down by percentage of time spent on Health Service dentistry as identified from responses to the Dental Working Patterns Survey.

Due to the small population of dentists in each subgroup, the analyses in this section use different weighting to the rest of the report and means that the average values presented for all dentists will differ from those presented elsewhere.

Small sample sizes for each subgroup mean that the values are subject to additional levels of uncertainty beyond those already associated with estimates based upon sample data, as extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages.

Table 19.1: All self-employed GDS dentists – average earnings and expenses from Health Service and private dentistry, by percentage of time spent on Health Service dentistry, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes: 1.Small sample (<125) 2. Results are based on responses from the Dental Working Patterns Survey. This Survey was only sent to dentists who carried out some Health Service work in 2018/19 or 2019/20; therefore, percentage of time spent on Health Service dentistry cannot equal zero  3. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of the report}}

Detailed expenses breakdown by dental type, age, gender and activity demographics

As discussed in the Known issues section of the Introduction, earnings and expenses can be counted more than once across tax returns, and this should be borne in mind when considering these results.

Table 20.1: Self-employed Principal dentists - detailed expenses breakdown, by age, gender and percentage of gross earnings from Health Service dentistry, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes: 1. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report 2. Small sample (<125)}}

Associate dentists are less likely than Principal dentists to employ staff, and this is reflected in the percentage of Total expenses that were Employee costs, at 4.3 and 37.6 per cent respectively

Table 20.2: Self-employed Associate dentists - detailed expenses breakdown, by age, gender and percentage of gross earnings from Health Service dentistry, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes: 1. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report 2. Small sample (<125)}}

For all self-employed GDS dentists in 2018/19 consistent with the results from 2017/18, the four largest expense categories were Other (54.4 per cent), Employee (24.2 per cent), Office and General Business (10.2 per cent) and Premises (7.5 per cent)

Table 20.3: All self-employed GDS dentists - detailed expenses breakdown, by age, gender, activity type, percentage of gross earnings from Health Service dentistry, weekly working hours, percentage of time spent on Health Service dentistry and survey response, Northern Ireland, 2018/19

^{_{Notes: 1. Further explanatory notes can be found in the  UK Chapter of this report 2. Small sample (<125)  3. The bands of weekly working hours changed in 2012/13 (from ≥35<45 and ≥45 to ≥35≤45 and >45) so caution should be used when making any comparisons to data before 2012/13}}