Dental Earnings and Expenses Estimates, 2020/21

Arrangements in place between April 2020 and April 2022

The Scottish Government communication PCA(D)(2020)7, issued on 2 April 2020, included the following financial support for NHS dental practices: 

• 80% of pre-Covid Item of Service fees (later increased to 85%) 
• the protection of General Dental Practice Allowance, rent reimbursement and individual commitment payments. 

Arrangements in place from June 2020

The Scottish Government communication PCA(D)(2020)10, issued on 10 July 2020, advised that General Dental Practice Allowance (GDPA) payments and the GDPA cap would both be increased by 30%. From the 13 July 2020, NHS contractors were able to see patients for routine oral health care.

The initial closure of dental practices would have likely reduced expenses, as practice running costs would have been lower during the closure and PPE was provided free of charge to practices. However, it is thought that some expenses may have risen during the pandemic eg recruitment and laboratory costs.  

This section shows average gross earnings, total expenses, and taxable income estimates by dental type and contract type for dentists in Scotland. The expenses to earnings ratio (EER) is also shown as a percentage for ease of understanding. The Dental Working Patterns Survey was not carried out in 2020/21 due to the impact on working hours during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional analyses based on data usually collected by the survey such as weekly working hours, percentage of time spent on NHS dentistry and business arrangement are therefore not available for the 2020/21 report.

Table 15.1: All self-employed GDS dentists – average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry, by dental type, Scotland, 2019/20 and 2020/21

^Note:

^{1. Statistical significance relates only to the fact of a year-on-year change in taxable income. See 'Statistical significance explained'} 

Year-on-year differences between income before tax estimates have been tested for statistical significance at a 95 per cent confidence level. An increase or decrease in estimates that is statistically significant is likely to be a genuine change, rather than resulting from chance, and means that users can have greater confidence that any apparent differences are applicable to the entire population in question.

Statistical significance in this report relates only to the fact of an increase or decrease in average income before tax and does not consider the size of the change; in some cases, apparently large changes may not be statistically significant and vice versa.

Average gross earnings and total expenses have not been tested, as standard errors were not available. Throughout the rest of the report, results and comparisons have not been tested for statistical significance unless otherwise stated.

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 Scotland, from 2010/11 to 2020/21, in both cash and real terms. 

Report population changes

It is important to note that figure 15.2 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:

_{^{1. Numbers shown are earnings and expenses estimates report populations and will not match those found elsewhere}}

Earnings and expenses estimates by gender

It is important to note that this report includes both full-time and part-time dental earnings and expenses, which – given that previous reports have shown that on average male dentists tend to work longer weekly hours compared to their female counterparts (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 NHS and private dentistry, by dental type and gender, Scotland, 2020/21

_^Notes: 

_{^{1. In 2020/21 male dentists consistently had higher gross earnings, expenses and taxable incomes than their female colleagues}}

_{^{2. Although sample sizes allow results to be presented for Principals, Associates, and all self-employed dentists, it is important to note that the small sample sizes of each subgroup mean that these values are subject to more uncertainty, as extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages.}} 

Earnings and expenses estimates by age

For the purposes of this report, dentists’ ages were calculated as at 30 September 2020 – the mid-point of the 2020/21 financial year.

Table 17.1: All self-employed GDS dentists - average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry, by dental type and age band, Scotland, 2020/21

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 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 18.1: Self-employed Principal dentists - detailed expenses breakdown, by age and gender, Scotland, 2020/21

Table 18.2: Self-employed Associate dentists - detailed expenses breakdown, by age and gender, Scotland, 2020/21

_^Notes: 

_{^{1. Associate dentists are less likely to employ staff then their Principal dentist counterparts which is reflected in the percentage of Associate expenses for Employee costs, at 1.7 per cent (£500) compared to 35.8 per cent (£82,300) for Principals}}

Table 18.3: All self-employed GDS dentists - detailed expenses breakdown, by age and gender, Scotland, 2020/21