Pay in England

LAST UPDATED: 29 May 2025

How does the DDRBs recent recommendation on pay affect me?

On 22 May 2025, the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) published its 53rd report recommending an uplift of 4% to employed dentists’ salaries and the pay element of NHS contracts.

The Government has now accepted this uplift to pay.

We've set out how the DDRB’s recommendation might affect you below in as much detail as is possible at this stage.

Contractors

Those holding NHS contracts receive an annual uplift to their contract value, which is backdated to the start of the relevant financial year.

This annual uplift incorporates two distinct elements of an uplift to pay and an uplift in respect of the costs of delivering care, for example, staffing, lab and materials costs. This second category is known as “expenses” in the Government’s language.

While the DDRB has now published its 4% recommendation on pay, it is up to the Government to decide how to implement that recommendation as an uplift to contract values, including how to remunerate dentists for the “expenses” element of the costs of delivering care.
We do not, therefore, currently know what the final contract uplift Government will implement for the 2025/26 financial year will be. We have strenuously argued that the Government must respond to the DDRB’s report as quickly as possible to avoid unnecessary delays to the uplift reaching pay packets.

Similarly, we have strenuously argued that fair remuneration for dentists must include an appropriate uplift with regard to the costs of delivering care. This is particularly acute this year with the impact of minimum wage and national insurance increases on staffing costs. These are cost increases that cannot be left unfunded and to be borne by practices. A failure to account for them critically undermines the overall outcomes of the pay review process.

Associates

The pay uplift does not apply directly to associates' incomes. While there is no requirement for practices to increase associate pay, associates might reasonably look to the uplift for an indication of an expected uplift in their own income, and it would therefore be prudent for practices to increase pay in line with the pay uplift applied to contract values.

However, we recognise that practice income has been under enormous pressure for a number of years and therefore any decision on pay increases for associates will inevitably reflect local business circumstances, and will be a matter for direct negotiation between the parties. Current recruitment difficulties may also be a factor in pay negotiations between associates and practice owners. We encourage associates and practice owners to discuss their contractual terms in light of the uplift, when it is implemented.

Employed NHS dentists

Those dentists in employed NHS roles will have a pay uplift applied to their salary and backdated to 1 April 2025 (it will appear in pay packets from August 2025).
Resident dentists (hospital dental trainees) in England will receive a 4% consolidated pay uplift, plus a consolidated extra uplift of £750 to their pay points.

For all other dentists in employed NHS roles, such as in the CDS, academia, speciality and specialist dentists, and hospital consultants in England, they will receive a 4% consolidated pay uplift.

Armed Forces dentists

For Armed Forces dentists, rates of base pay will increase by 4.5% for all ranks within the MODO cadre from 1 April 2025 (this will appear in pay packets from August 2025).