The Department of Health and Social Care have chosen not to increase payments for Quality Improvement activities or funded appraisals for 2026/27, dubbing them as not 'core clinical activities'. The BDA believes this sets a very dangerous precedent, letting ministers and officials pick and choose what elements of the total contract are worth uplifting.
The headline uplift is confirmed at 3.31%, with 3.75% on pay and 2.23% for expenses, calculated using the GDP deflator, not via any credible benchmarks of the real increases in practice costs. The professional body had estimated that a 6.31% uplift was required to cover dental inflation.
Shiv Pabary, Chair of the BDA's General Dental Practice Committee said:
"Dentists have got used to Government dressing up pay cuts as uplifts, but officials are now playing a very dangerous game setting aside key parts of our contract as unworthy of attention.
"Quality improvement and funded appraisals are suddenly 'voluntary, targeted incentives', not core parts of our contract. Our members will be left wondering where this pick and mix approach will end."