On 10 November we wrote to Leanne Thompson, Head of General Dental and Ophthalmic Services calling to expedite payment of DDRB (the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration) uplifts.
Read our letter on payment expedition.
The Department of Health (DoH) has now provided some additional timescales:
1. 2025-26 uplift
- Salaried dentists, alongside other employed Health and Social Care (HSC) staff will receive their 4% uplift backdated in full to April 2025, in their February pay. Resident dentists will receive an additional consolidated uplift of £750, as recommended by DDRB
- GDPs: DoH have confirmed a 4.04% increase to fees. Arrears for 2025-26 will be processed and paid to GDPs in June, with the remainder to follow in July. Read the letter from the GDS about payment timescales.
2. 2026-27 uplift
- DoH officials have advised they are aiming to pay uplifts attributing to the 2026-27 pay award to salaried HSC staff by end of quarter one, so June at latest. This is dependent on receipt of the DDRB report/recommendations by early March
- The amount of uplift is as yet unknown, but the Minister has made clear his intention to accept and pay this as the first call on his department’s budget.
In addition to the unacceptable delay in uplift awards being approved and paid, we have highlighted afresh our concerns over the additional hefty delay in the Business Services Organisation (BSO) processing payments owed to GDPs. An additional four or five months compared with salaried colleagues is simply not acceptable.
We have asked DoH to do everything it can to ensure BSO expedites 2026-27 uplift payments to practitioners ahead of time.
3. £1.6m activity enhancement payments
We have continued to press for clarity on when this funding, announced by the Minister last May, will actually be paid to practitioners.
In recent days, DoH have advised they are currently, ‘scoping some modelling options’ for payments, and will shortly forward to us for review, ahead of payments being issued.
Read the letter on activity enhancement payments from November.
