1. health and fitness
2. dental care

Dental Earnings and Expenses,
Great Britain,
2005/06
September 2007
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
Dental Earnings and Expenses, GB, 2005/06
Contents
Summary ........................................................................................................2
Table 1: Summary of the various dental business arrangements which
are studied in this report. ..........................................................................3
Table 2: Summary of population and sample changes between 2004/05
and 2005/06, GB1. ....................................................................................5
Figure 1: Change in composition of the GDS/ PDS dental population
between 2004/05 and 2005/06, GB. .........................................................6
Summary of net income estimates for all GDS dentists.............................7
Table 3: Comparison of GDS dentist net income by contract type,
2005/06, GB..............................................................................................7
GDS Non-associate dentists .........................................................................8
Table 4: 2005/06 main results: GDS non-associates, GB.........................9
Table 5: Comparison of expenses to earnings ratios (%) for GDS nonassociates between 1999/00 and 2005/06 by sex, age, partnership status
and location, GB. ....................................................................................10
Table 6: Gross earnings, expenses and net income for non-associates,
GB, 1999/2000 to 2005/06......................................................................10
Table 7: NHS earnings as a % of total earnings1, GB.............................11
NHS Commitment Analysis for GDS non-associates .................................13
Figure 2: Distribution GDS of non-associate dentists by level of NHS
commitment, 2005/06 and 2004/05, GB. ................................................14
Table 8: NHS commitment summary, 2005/06, GB ................................14
Figure 3: GDS non-associate average gross earnings by level of NHS
commitment 2004/05 and 2005/06, GB ..................................................15
Detailed Expenses Breakdown for GDS non associates............................16
Table 9: Average expenses breakdown, GDS non-associates, 2005/06,
GB ..........................................................................................................16
Table 10: Average expenses breakdown, GDS non-associates, GB,
2001/02, 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06 ................................................17
Table 11: Average expenses breakdown, GDS non-associates, 2005/06,
by NHS commitment ...............................................................................18
GDS Associate dentists ..............................................................................19
Table 12: 2005/06 main results: GDS first party associates, GB ............19
Table 13: 2005/06 main results: GDS second party associates, GB ......20
Detailed Expenses Breakdown for GDS associates...................................21
Table 14: Average expenses breakdown, GDS first party associates,
2005/06, GB............................................................................................21
Table 15: Average expenses breakdown, second party associates,
2005/06, GB............................................................................................22
PDS Whole-Year dentists ............................................................................23
Figure 4: Distribution of EER among the PDS Whole-Year population...24
Table 16: Main results for PDS Whole-year Providers, GB.....................24
Table 17: Main results for PDS Whole-year Performers, GB. .................24
PDS Switched dentists ................................................................................25
Table 18: Main results for PDS Switched dentists, GB. ..........................25
Appendix: Methodology ..............................................................................26
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2
Summary
This report provides a detailed study of the earnings and expenses of General
Dental Service (GDS) and Personal Dental Services (PDS) dentists in Great
Britain and is based on tax data for dentists with an accounting year ending in
2005/06. All averages in the report relate to both full- and part-time dentists
with varying levels of earnings from the NHS. The earnings and expenses
relate to NHS and private work.
This report has been produced by the Information Centre for health and social
care (IC). A joint working group with representation from the IC, the
Department of Health (DH), the British Dental Association (BDA), the Doctors’
and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) secretariat and the NHS Business
Services Authority Dental Services Division (DSD) was consulted on the
content of the report.
Changes from year to year are affected by estimates from samples of dentists
and by changes in the composition of the workforce, including the shift to
PDS 1 , in 2005/06. This is the first time that earnings results for PDS dentists
have been published. It is not meaningful to discuss the average earnings of
an average dentist as there is great variation in the different financial
arrangements. However, the key findings among GB dentists in 2005/06 are:
•
Average net income among all GDS dentists was highest for first party
associates (practice owners who work with other dentists who are not
partners) at £114,068, with non-associates (dentists working in a standalone business) earning £94,639 and second party associates (dentists
who rent the facilities of a first party associate) earning £61,125.
•
For GDS non-associates, the average Expenses to Earnings Ratio 2 (EER)
was 57.8%; for GDS first party associates the EER was 67.8%; and for
GDS second party associates the EER was 33.4%.
•
For GDS non-associates, earnings from the NHS accounted for, on
average, 41.9% of total earnings from all sources. For those GDS nonassociates with a high NHS commitment (ratio of NHS earnings to total
earnings between 67% and 100%), the average EER was 49.6% whereas
those GDS non-associates with a low NHS commitment (ratio of NHS
earnings to total earnings up to 33%) had an average EER of 62.8%.
• For PDS Providers3 (dentists who hold a PDS contract with a PCT),
average net income was £127,910 with an average EER of 59.5%. For
PDS Performers (dentists who are not Providers but who work to deliver
the requirements of a PDS contract), average net income was £65,852,
with an average EER of 13.0%.
1
The proportion of dentists working in PDS was 23% at the end of 2004/05 and 37% at the end of 2005/06
The EER is a measure of how much of an individual’s gross earnings were consumed by business expenses.
3
An attempt to distinguish groupings has been carried out by the IC and the methodology is detailed in the Appendix.
2
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3
Introduction
1.1. This paper presents evidence on the self-employed earnings and
expenses of General Dental Services (GDS) and Personal Dental
Services (PDS) dentists in tax year 2005/06. The source for the data is
the self assessment (SA) return held on HM Revenue and Customs
(HMRC) SA system, which covers earnings from all self-employed
sources including the GDS/PDS contract, private practice, and any
other sources. Analyses were carried out on an anonymised dataset
by HMRC statisticians; only aggregated data were supplied to the IC.
1.2. Dentists for the GDS analyses in this report were chosen from the
Dental Rates Study Group (DRSG) in 2005/06 (as at 28 February
2006) whereas the whole population of PDS dentists (including
dentists working for corporate bodies) were included for the PDS
analyses (see appendix for further details).
1.3. Table 1 below shows the various business arrangements in which selfemployed dentists can work in Great Britain, all of which are discussed
further in the rest of this report.
Table 1: Summary of the various dental business arrangements
which are studied in this report.
GDS/PDS Type
Description
GDS: Non-associate
Works in a stand-alone business and
includes dentists working in business
partnerships.
GDS: First party
associate
Practice owners working with other
dentists who are not partners.
GDS: Second party
associate
Rents the facilities of a first party
associate.
GDS: Partners of
associates
In a business partnership with an
associate dentist.
PDS: Whole-year
Known to have worked under a PDS
contract for the whole year of the
study
PDS: Switcher
Known to have moved from working
in the GDS to working under a PDS
contract at some point during the
financial year.
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4
1.4. Prior to 2004/05, this report has provided analyses on GDS nonassociate dentists only. During this period, when all dentists were
GDS, the expenses to earnings ratio for all GDS dentists was inferred
from the non-associate results. This was based on the fact that,
historically, the results for non-associates were broadly similar to the
overall results covering all GDS dentists.
1.5. For GDS non-associate dentists, time series results are presented up
to and including the financial year 2005/06. GDS non-associates are
dentists who do not have formal business links with other dentists.
PDS ‘Whole Year’ dentists were in the PDS for the entire 2005/06 tax
year while PDS ‘Switchers’ moved from GDS to PDS at some point
during that tax year. Given the changing populations of GDS and PDS
dentists, all the time series presented should be treated with caution.
1.6. The IC is publishing information on PDS earnings for the first time by
expanding the population to cover PDS dentists and those GDS
dentists that switched to PDS in 2005/06. Last year, the Information
Centre (IC) decided not to publish PDS results pertaining to the
2004/05 tax year due to concerns that the final sample of PDS dentists
was too small. The main reasons were as follows:
•
Only a small number of dentists were working in PDS before the
start of 2004/05, making estimates vulnerable to extreme values;
•
Information on PDS dentists’ contract status (whether working as a
provider or a performer 3 ) or type of PDS scheme was unavailable;
and
•
Where dentists switched to a PDS contract in 2004/05, their NHS
earnings were from a mixture of GDS and PDS sources. Such
dentists that had an accounting year that ended prior to quarter 4
will have worked in GDS for the whole year. Analysis of this cohort
of dentists was therefore not considered to be meaningful.
1.7. Table 2 below shows the relative populations of each type of dentist,
along with the size of the sample that was actually studied for the
dental earnings reports of 2004/05 and 2005/06 produced by the IC.
The population data is also shown graphically in Figure 1.
3
“PDS Providers” are providers of premises and facilities to Performers. In most cases, in 2004/05, Providers
received direct payments from the PCT and, in turn, pay the Performers. Providers can have a number of
arrangements with Performers. The IC identified “Providers” by assuming they are dentists with an EER greater than
0.3 and less than 0.9
“PDS Performers” work at the practice of the Provider in return for a share of the PCT payment received by the
Provider. The IC identifies “Performers” as dentists having EER less than 0.3
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5
Table 2: Summary of population and sample changes between 2004/05
and 2005/06, GB1.
2004/05
Population
1
2005/06
Final HMRC
Sample
Population
Final HMRC
Sample
GDS Non-Associates
GDS First Party Associates
GDS Second Party Associates
GDS Partners of Associates
4,610
3,590
5,109
548
2,322
1,747
2,400
273
3,725
3,318
4,751
377
1,739
1,553
2,176
184
PDS Switchers
2,847
1,799
3,299
1,543
PDS Whole Year
1,030
341
3,746
2,198
All Dentists:
17,734
Note that this does not fully cover all dentists in Great Britain.
8,882
19,216
9,393
1.8. Table 2 shows that changes in the population in 2005/06 may affect
the comparisons that are made between results for 2004/05 and
2005/06.
1.9. Furthermore, the General Dental Services Payment Report 2005/06,
published by the Information Centre in September 2006, showed that
in 2004/05, dentists who moved from GDS to PDS were more
“committed” to the NHS, meaning that they “left behind” a GDS nonassociate population with a lower commitment to NHS work. It is
possible that such migration may have occurred again, affecting the
validity of any comparison between the level of NHS earnings done in
2004/05 and 2005/06.
1.10. Further to this, Figure 1 below shows graphically the data in Table 2,
highlighting the migration to PDS contracts that has occurred between
2004/05 and 2005/06, as well as the reduction in the GDS nonassociate population – on whom NHS earnings analysis is based.
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6
Figure 1: Change in composition of the GDS/ PDS dental population
between 2004/05 and 2005/06, GB.
100%
PDS w hole year, 1,030
PDS w hole year, 3,746
90%
PDS sw itchers, 2,847
80%
GDS Partners of assoc*
PDS sw itchers, 3,299
% of total dentists (GB)
70%
60%
GDS 2nd party associates,
5,109
GDS 2nd party associates,
4,751
50%
40%
GDS Partners of assoc*
GDS 1st party associates,
3,590
30%
GDS 1st party associates,
3,318
20%
GDS non-associates , 4,610
10%
GDS non-associates , 3,725
0%
2004/05
2005/06
* GDS Partners of Associates 548 in 2004/05 and 377 in 22005/06.
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Summary of net income estimates for all GDS dentists
2.1. A national gross earnings and expenses estimate for all GDS dentists
together cannot be calculated due to the payment flows that occur
between first and second party associates. This is likely to lead to
double counting of some payments meaning that combined expenses
ratios cannot be derived. It is possible, however, to calculate combined
average net income results.
2.2. Table 3 provides a summary of the net income for all associate types.
When comparing the earnings of the different associate types it is
important to note that variation in the age and sex profiles of each
group will affect results. This is particularly the case for the second
party associate population which has a much higher proportion of
females and a younger age profile than the other associate types.
2.3. Table 3 shows that, for GDS dentists, average net income was highest
for first party associates and partners of associates (£114,068 and
£104,908 respectively), with non-associates earning the next highest
(£94,639) and second party associates earning the least (£61,125).
Table 3: Comparison of GDS dentist net income by contract type,
2005/06, GB.
GDS first party GDS second
GDS partners of All GDS
associates
party associates associates
associates
GDS Nonassociates
All GDS
Dentists
Population size
Sample size
3,318
1,553
4,751
2,176
377
184
8,446
3,913
3,725
1,739
12,171
5,652
All dentists (GB)
£114,068
£61,125
£104,908
£83,877
£94,639
£87,172
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8
GDS Non-associate dentists
3.1. This section updates the earnings and expenses analyses carried out
annually on non-associate dentists. Non-associates are dentists who
do not have formal business links with other dentists; that is, involving
transfers of gross fee payments between two or more dentists with
formal associate arrangements for meeting expenses costs. These
dentists are mostly single-handed practitioners; although a small
proportion (around 5%) are in partnership arrangements.
3.2. Time series results for GDS non-associates are influenced by the
changing population and the migration from GDS to PDS. In 2004/05,
the final HMRC sample of GDS non-associates made up only 13% of
all known dentists. In 2005/06, the corresponding cohort had shrunk to
represent only 9% of all dentists. This means that it is not correct to
assume that the results for non-associates in 2005/06 are indicative of
the dentist population as a whole. In particular, the General Dental
Services Payments Report 2004/05 (published by the IC in September
2006) showed that in 2004/05, dentists who moved from GDS to PDS
were more “committed” to the NHS, meaning that they “left behind” a
GDS non-associate population with a lower commitment to NHS work.
It is possible that such migration may have occurred again; therefore a
comparison of the proportion of NHS earnings over time should be
viewed with this in mind.
3.3. The following tables show the headline findings for GDS nonassociates:
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9
Men
1
2
Single-handed
Table 4: 2005/06 main results: GDS non-associates, GB.
London
Rest of GB
In partnership
All men
Women
4
Single-handed
3
Age
<44
45+
< 35
35-44
45-54
55+
All ages
DRSG Effective
population
returns
146
41
215
99
172
50
705
335
977
515
579
311
132
55
2,926
1,406
Average
gross
earnings
£318,886
£205,687
£287,557
£258,209
£227,707
£199,722
£165,334
£233,143
Average
expenses
£218,228
£113,773
£188,371
£150,400
£125,743
£110,536
£80,665
£134,047
Average
net
income
£100,658
£91,914
£99,186
£107,809
£101,964
£89,186
£84,668
£99,096
Expenses
to
earnings
ratio (%)
68.4%
55.3%
65.5%
58.2%
55.2%
55.3%
48.8%
57.5%
London
All ages
117
36
£209,106 £132,466
£76,640
63.3%
Rest of GB
<44
45+
345
279
125
142
£198,737 £114,992
£184,239 £109,886
£83,746
£74,353
57.9%
59.6%
All ages
58
799
30
333
£135,783 £67,223
£190,613 £112,292
£68,560
£78,321
49.5%
58.9%
3,725
1,739
£224,019 £129,380
£94,639
57.8%
In partnership
All women
All non-associate dentists
Notes:
1. In ‘London’ refers to dentists registered within the London Government Office Region
(GOR). “Rest of GB” refers to those outside the London GOR
2. Due to small numbers in detailed age groups, estimates of EER are unreliable therefore
data was compiled for wider age groups.
3. 85 partners have been excluded from the regional and age group analysis due to a
regional and age split for partners being unavailable.
4. 36 female dentists from the London GOR were excluded from the age group analysis due
to full age breakdowns for this group being unavailable.
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10
Table 5: Comparison of expenses to earnings ratios (%) for GDS nonassociates between 1999/00 and 2005/06 by sex, age, partnership
status and location, GB.
All non-associate dentists (GB)
Men
7
Women
Aged under 35 2
Aged 35-44
3
Aged 45-54
4
Aged 55 and over
5
Aged 44 and under
Aged 45 and over
1
2002/03 2003/04
56.6%
55.6%
1999/00
55.4%
2000/01
55.9%
2001/02
56.8%
55.3%
55.8%
56.7%
56.4%
55.6%
56.6%
57.4%
58.0%
57.7%
58.5%
61.2%
55.9%
56.2%
57.0%
55.4%
55.8%
53.6%
54.5%
2004/05
58.3%
2005/06
57.8%
55.6%
57.8%
57.5%
-0.5%
0.0%
-0.3%
56.2%
60.4%
58.9%
-1.4%
60.3%
56.1%
63.5%
65.5%
2.0%
57.1%
57.2%
59.7%
58.2%
-1.4%
56.3%
56.7%
54.8%
56.4%
55.2%
-1.2%
55.3%
54.9%
53.3%
56.2%
55.3%
-0.8%
6
Partnerships 8
Single-handers
London 9
Elsewhere in GB
Percentage point
change from 2004/05
to 2005/06
60.6%
55.8%
51.0%
55.7%
54.0%
56.1%
54.0%
57.0%
52.5%
56.9%
56.5%
55.6%
52.1%
58.6%
49.0%
58.1%
-3.1%
-0.5%
55.6%
55.3%
57.3%
55.4%
58.6%
56.1%
58.4%
56.0%
55.8%
55.6%
61.5%
58.1%
62.3%
57.4%
0.8%
-0.8%
Notes:
1. There were changes to the methodology between 2003/04 and 2004/05. Associate status
data was validated and ‘Outliers’ were excluded (see methodology in appendix).
2. 2005/06: Based on 50 males not in London GOR.
3. 2005/06: Based on 335 males not in London GOR
4. 2005/06: Based on 515 males not in the London GOR
5. 2005/06: Based on 311 males not in London GOR
6. Due to small numbers in detailed age groups, estimates of EER are unreliable therefore
data was compiled for wider age groups.
7. 2005/06: 36 female dentists from the London GOR were excluded from the age group
analysis due to full age breakdowns for this group being unavailable.
8. 2005/06: 85 partners have been excluded from the regional and age group analysis due
to a regional and age split for partners being unavailable.
9. The Thames Regional Health Authorities up to 2003/04; London GOR for 2004/05.
Table 6: Gross earnings, expenses and net income for non-associates,
GB, 1999/2000 to 2005/06
Average Gross Earnings
Average Gross Expenses
Average Net Income
1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03
2003/04 2004/05 2005/06
£143,230 £150,395 £162,902 £167,286 £174,415 £206,195 £224,019
£79,295 £84,064 £92,472 £94,734
£97,058 £120,215 £129,380
£63,935 £66,332 £70,429 £72,552
£77,357 £85,980 £94,639
Change, 2004/05
to 2005/06
8.6%
7.6%
10.1%
Notes:
1. There were changes to the methodology between 2003/04 and 2004/05. Associate status
data was validated and ‘Outliers’ were excluded (see methodology in appendix).
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11
Table 7: NHS earnings as a % of total earnings1, GB
2003/04
2
2004/05
3
Percentage point
change from 2004/05
to 2005/06
2005/06
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
2002/03
All non-associate dentists (GB)
58.2%
57.4%
55.2%
55.7%
54.0%
47.6%
41.9%
-5.7%
Men
Women 5
58.5%
56.2%
57.9%
54.9%
55.4%
54.1%
56.3%
52.9%
54.7%
50.7%
48.0%
45.8%
42.2%
40.8%
-5.8%
-5.0%
Aged under 35
Aged 35-44
Aged 45-54
Aged 55 and over
Aged 44 and under 4
Aged 45 and over
63.8%
57.6%
55.3%
60.3%
64.7%
57.3%
54.6%
58.0%
60.7%
56.2%
52.0%
54.8%
66.2%
54.6%
54.5%
53.2%
72.5%
52.1%
52.7%
54.6%
56.7%
45.3%
46.6%
48.5%
36.0%
40.0%
44.0%
47.4%
39.6%
44.1%
-20.7%
-5.3%
-2.6%
-1.1%
London 7
Elsewhere in GB
46.6%
62.2%
45.4%
61.8%
42.1%
60.2%
47.7%
58.6%
46.7%
56.5%
43.9%
47.8%
37.9%
42.5%
-6.0%
-5.3%
Single-handed
In partnership 6
57.9%
62.7%
57.3%
59.3%
55.0%
56.7%
55.6%
58.0%
54.4%
47.3%
47.3%
53.7%
41.9%
43.1%
-5.4%
-10.6%
Notes:
1. This is an approximation because the figures are for different time periods - GDS fee
earnings cover the financial year, while the total gross earnings cover a 12-month period
with accounting years ending at any time during the financial year
2. There were changes to the methodology between 2003/04 and 2004/05. Associate status
data was validated and ‘Outliers’ were excluded (see methodology in appendix).
Proportions in 2003/04 and 2004/05 include “other payments” (e.g. for maternity, sick pay,
trainee grants, etc.). These account for approximately 0.4% of total NHS earnings.
3. 2005/06: ‘Aged under 35’ based on 52 males not in London GOR, ’Aged 35-44’ based on
351 males not in London GOR, ’Aged 45-54’ based on 531 males not in London GOR
and ‘Aged 55 and over’ based on 320 males not in the London GOR.
4. Due to small numbers in detailed age groups, estimates of NHS earnings are unreliable
therefore data was compiled for wider age groups.
5. 2005/06: 36 female dentists from the London GOR were excluded from the age group
analysis due to full age breakdowns for this group being unavailable.
6. 2005/06: 85 partners have been excluded from the regional and age group analysis due
to a regional and age split for partners being unavailable.
7. The Thames Regional Health Authorities up to 2003/04; London GOR for 2004/05.
3.4. The key findings are:
•
The expenses to earnings ratio was 57.8% in 2005/06, 0.5
percentage points lower than the ratio for 2004/05 (58.3%). This follows
a rise of 2.7 percentage points between 2003/04 and 2004/05. It should
be noted that the estimate of the ratio is subject to sampling error (the
95% confidence interval for the ratio is roughly ± 1 percentage points
(actually 0.8% in 2005/06)); this will lead to some year on year volatility
in the ratio estimates. As mentioned above, comparisons between
years are also affected by the fact that the population has changed
over time.
•
Table 6 shows average gross earnings rose by 8.6% between
2004/05 and 2005/06, with a comparable rise of 7.6% in average
expenses. These were lower than the rises between 2003/04 and
2004/05 of 18.2% for gross earnings and 23.9% for average expenses.
Average net earnings increased by 10.1% in the period to £94,639, a
similar increase as in the previous period (11.1%).
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12
•
Average gross General Dental Service (GDS) NHS earnings in
2005/06 accounted for 41.9% of the total gross earnings reported for
non-associates, compared with 47.6% in 2004/05 - this represents a
fall of 5.7 percentage points. The measured changes are most
pronounced for younger dentists, and can be attributed to the change
in population from one year to the next, and are also due to the
continued trend towards a higher proportion of income coming from
private sources. Table 7 shows that, amongst GDS non-associates, the
proportion of NHS earnings as a percentage of total earnings was
steadily falling up to 2003/04 with particularly steep decreases between
2003/04 and 2005/06.
•
The gender breakdown shows that average gross earnings for men
are higher than for women. The averages are affected by the length of
the working week; women tend to work a shorter week on average so
their gross earnings tend to be lower than men’s (see ‘Survey of
General Dental Practitioners’ Workload’: DDRB, 2001). The difference
between the average gross earnings for men and women has grown
from £33,940 in 2004/05 to £42,530 in 2005/06. The expenses ratio for
women is higher than it is for men (1.4 percentage points difference).
This compares to a difference of 2.6 percentage points found in
2004/05. Average expenses have risen from £123,410 in 2004/05 to
£134,047 in 2005/06 (a rise of £10,637) for men while women have
experienced a smaller increase during the same period (a rise of
£4,012 from £108,280 in 2004/05). Table 7 shows that women have a
lower proportion of NHS earnings as a percentage of total earnings
than men. However, this gap has been narrowing and was different by
only 1.4 percentage points in 2005/06.
•
The age group analyses show that younger dentists had higher
expenses to earnings ratio than older dentists. This might be a
reflection of the higher expenses incurred by younger dentists when
establishing practices. Expenses ratios declining with age has been
consistent over time (except in 2003/04 for the 35-44 age groups).
Table 7 also shows that up to 2005/06, dentists under 35 completed
the greatest proportion of NHS work. After a steady rise in this
proportion from 2001/02 to 2003/04 there was a steep decrease of 15.8
percentage points between 2003/04 and 2004/05 (72.5% to 56.7%).
Latest figures show a further decrease of 20.7 percentage points in
NHS earnings as a percentage of total earnings for the under 35 age
group. However, the analyses are based on a small sample of 50
males in the non-London area and, as explained earlier, will be
influenced by the population changes. They should therefore be treated
with caution. Dentists outside the London GOR complete around 42.5%
of their work for the NHS compared to dentists within the London GOR
who do the least, at around 37.9%.
•
The Expenses to Earnings Ratios have decreased for all age groups
in 2005/06 except for the under 35 where there was an increase of 2
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
13
percentage points. However, this figure was based on a small sample
of 50 males not in the London region. Due to small sample sizes, the
statistics for the detailed age groups are not fully robust but can be
used as a guide to trends.
•
Partnership agreements: Table 5 shows that the expenses ratio for
partnerships is generally lower than the average for single-handers.
Dentists in both types of agreement arrangements have experienced a
fall in expenses ratio between 2004/05 and 2005/06 while the
difference in ratios has widened from 6.5 to 9.1 percentage points over
this period. Note that the number of dentists in partnership is
particularly small (85 in the sample); this result should therefore be
treated with caution.
NHS Commitment Analysis for GDS non-associates
3.5. The analyses presented in this paper so far are based on the dentists
with an accounting year end in any quarter. In order to study NHS
commitment more widely than in Table 7, this sub-section considers
only those non-associate dentists with an accounting year ending in
Q4, which most closely aligns with the financial year 2005/06.
3.6. This analysis, introduced for the 2003/04 report, investigates the
earnings and expenses profiles of the non-associate population by
level of NHS commitment. It is not possible to study NHS commitment
among any other groups of dentists (other than GDS non-associates),
because of the possibility of the transfer of gross fee payments
between two or more dentists with formal associate arrangements.
3.7. This analysis compares the earnings and expenses of non-associate
dentists by “NHS commitment band”. The band that a dentist falls into
is determined by comparing their NHS income (total income from the
GDS, including “additional payments” such as maternity pay, trainee
grants, sick pay, etc.) with their total income as reported via tax selfassessment (SA). The proportion of a dentist’s total income earned
from GDS is calculated and dentists are banded together into:
•
•
•
•
“low”
“medium”
“high”
“very high”
(GDS / total < 33%);
(33% < GDS / total < 67%);
(67%< GDS / total < 100%);
(100%< GDS / total < 110%).
3.8. Note that the “very high” commitment dentists are those for which
GDS payments as a proportion of total income is between 100% and
110%. This is because the GDS payments data relates exactly to the
financial year 2004/05, while the total income data relates to a 12month period ending at any point in the fourth quarter of the financial
year. The data were considered to be close enough to warrant further
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
14
inspection. Where the ratio exceeded 110%, the data were not
considered to be sufficiently reliable and these 31 cases were
excluded.
3.9. The distribution of NHS commitment for the non-associate populations
in 2005/06 and 2004/05 is shown in Figure 2. It must be noted that the
populations will be different for both years, as explained in 3.3,
however a year-on-year comparison within each ‘commitment band’ is
more robust:
Figure 2: Distribution GDS of non-associate dentists by level of NHS
commitment, 2005/06 and 2004/05, GB.
14%
% in 2005/06
% of dentists in the interval
12%
% in 2004/05
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
510
10
-1
5
15
-2
0
20
-2
5
25
-3
0
30
-3
5
35
-4
0
40
-4
5
45
-5
0
50
-5
5
55
-6
0
60
-6
5
65
-7
0
70
-7
5
75
-8
0
80
-8
5
85
-9
0
90
-9
95 5
-1
10 00
01
10 05
511
0
05
0%
GDS Payment as a percentage of Total Gross Income
3.10. Table 8 shows how average gross earnings, expenses and net
income vary by NHS commitment band
Table 8: NHS commitment summary, 2005/06, GB
NHS Commitment Level
Low
Medium
High (67% to 100%)
Very high
Total
DRSG population
1,658
681
1,207
178
3,725
Effective
Returns
310
125
220
31
686
Average Gross
Earnings
£272,148
£255,476
£190,737
£140,959
£236,447
Average
Average Net
Expenses
Income
£170,892
£101,256
£149,341
£106,135
£94,577
£96,159
£75,566
£65,393
£137,662
£98,785
Expenses
Ratio (%)
62.8%
58.5%
49.6%
53.6%
58.2%
Notes:
1. These figures are not consistent with the analysis in the rest of the paper due to using Q4
data only (where NHS commitment is <110%).
2. The expenses estimates exclude disallowable expenses.
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
15
3.11. The key findings in Table 8 are as follows:
•
The expenses to earnings ratio decreases as NHS commitment
increases from Low (<33%) to High (67% – 100%);
•
Average gross earnings and expenses decrease as NHS commitment
increases from Low to High;
•
Average net income is highest for those with medium (33% - 67%)
NHS commitment but appears to decrease with higher commitment
levels.
3.12. Figure 3 compares the average gross earnings of non-associate
dentists, by NHS commitment level, in 2004/05 and 2005/06
Figure 3: GDS non-associate average gross earnings by level of NHS
commitment 2004/05 and 2005/06, GB
£300,000
Expenses
Net Income
Average Gross Earnings
£250,000
£200,000
£170,892
£158,780
£149,341
£136,746
£150,000
£96,583
£94,577
£100,000
£50,000
£89,000
£101,256
£90,513
(pop. 1,658)
2005/06
(pop. 985)
2004/05
£106,135
£83,601
£96,159
£0
(pop. 1736)
2004/05
Low (<33%)
(pop. 681)
2005/06
Medium (33% to 67%)
(pop. 1595)
2004/05
(pop. 1,207)
2005/06
High (67% to 100%)
NHS Commitment Level
3.13. Average net income of dentists with a “medium” commitment to the
NHS increased by 17% between 2004/05 and 2005/06 compared to
14% for “low” and 15% for “high”. Expenses for dentists with a
”medium” commitment increased by 9%, compared to 8% for “low” and
a decrease of 2% for “high” NHS commitment dentists. This meant
that “low” and “medium” commitment dentists saw their expenses to
earnings ratio fall by 1 and 2 percentage points respectively between
2004/05 and 2005/06, whereas the drop for those with “high”
commitment was 4 percentage points.
3.14. The population sizes fell for all levels of NHS commitment, reflecting
the shift to PDS contract arrangements.
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
16
Detailed Expenses Breakdown for GDS non associates
3.15. HMRC statisticians were commissioned to provide a breakdown of
the total average expenses figure for non-associates in 2005/06 into
the broad sub-categories used in the tax SA return. Results are
provided in Table 9:
Table 9: Average expenses breakdown, GDS non-associates, 2005/06,
GB
Total
1
Expenses
Business
Premises
Employee
Car and
travel
Interest
Depreciation
Other
Net capital
allowances
All non-associate dentists (GB)
£138,054
£12,475
£11,547
£41,845
£2,673
£3,459
£5,973
£55,325
£4,757
Men
Women8
£143,099
£119,583
£13,040
£10,405
£11,923
£10,169
£44,259
£33,009
£2,860
£1,989
£3,595
£2,964
£6,144
£5,346
£56,400
£51,392
£4,879
£4,310
Aged under 352
Aged 35-443
Aged 45-544
Aged 55+5
£200,784
£160,184
£134,670
£118,563
£18,158
£14,149
£12,899
£10,436
£12,547
£11,663
£11,091
£10,883
£61,703
£48,166
£42,114
£39,189
£2,418
£2,718
£3,067
£2,884
£7,404
£5,024
£2,886
£1,640
£9,791
£7,122
£5,719
£4,966
£79,768
£65,297
£52,911
£44,970
£8,996
£6,045
£3,982
£3,594
Aged 44 and under6
Aged 45 and over
£163,379
£126,355
£14,222
£11,719
£12,495
£11,262
£47,753
£39,313
£2,480
£2,856
£5,045
£2,552
£7,287
£5,427
£67,745
£49,299
£6,350
£3,927
London9
Elsewhere in GB
£158,774
£138,309
£13,526
£12,535
£16,152
£11,078
£44,712
£42,206
£2,921
£2,668
£4,423
£3,411
£6,101
£6,116
£65,418
£55,522
£5,523
£4,773
Single-handed
In Partnership7
£141,076
£82,025
£12,669
£8,864
£11,764
£7,511
£42,545
£28,877
£2,702
£2,134
£3,548
£1,823
£6,114
£3,363
£56,860
£26,875
£4,875
£2,576
Notes:
1
Total expenses include disallowable expenses (i.e. expenses that are not allowed, for tax
purposes, because they are for personal, and not business, use). Figures in preceding tables
excluded disallowable expenses and averages are as a result slightly lower.
2
<35:Based on 50 males not from the London GOR.
3
35-44: Based on 335 males not from London GOR.
4
45-54: Based on 515 males not from the London GOR
5
55+: Based on 311 males not in the London GOR
6
Due to small numbers in detailed age groups, estimates of expenses are unreliable therefore
data was compiled for wider age groups.
7
85 partners have been excluded from the age and regional analysis due to an age
breakdown and regional split for partners being unavailable
8
36 female dentists from the London GOR have been excluded from the age breakdown
analysis due to full age breakdowns for this group being unavailable.
9
The Thames Regional Authority up to 2003/04; London GOR for 2004/05
3.16. Expenses breakdown key findings:
•
On average, the biggest expenses incurred by dentists are “other”
expenses (40%) and employee costs (30%). The main elements of
“other” expenses are cost of sales and other direct costs associated
with dental practice.
•
Men have uniformly higher expenses than women do across all
categories (20% higher overall). This is a reflection of the higher
volume of work carried out on average by men, with women working a
shorter week on average. However, it is interesting to note that women
experienced a significant growth in expenses between 2003/04 and
2004/05 of 31% while expenses for women increased by almost 3.9
percentage points (from £115,110 in 2004/05 to £119,583 in 2005/06).
This compares to a 22% increase between 2003/04 and 2004/05 for
men and an increase of 8% (from £132,190 to 143,099) for 2005/06.
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
17
The expenses to earnings ratio of women decreased by 1.4 percentage
points in 2005/06 to 58.9%. The ratio for men decreased by the lesser
0.3 percentage points to 57.5%.
•
Average expenses are highest for dentists in the under-35 age group
and lowest for the over-55s, and this is the case in all the subcategories with one exception. Car and travel expenses are the lowest
for the under-35 age group. The under 35 age group showed the
largest overall growth in expenses with an increase of 33%; although
this was based on a relatively small sample of 50 males from the nonLondon GOR. However, the more representative youngest age group,
44 and under, had a higher average expenses of £163,370 when
compared to £126,355 for the older age group. The expenses to
earnings ratio of the under-35s increased by 2 percentage points to
65.5%. This followed a rise of 7.4 percentage points in 2004/05.
Additionally, these results must be treated with caution due to the small
sample size of this group over time which will lead to some degree of
year-on-year volatility in the expenses estimates.
•
The detailed expenses breakdown for 2005/06 can also be compared
with the breakdowns in 2004/05, 2003/04 and 2001/02:
Table 10: Average expenses breakdown, GDS non-associates, GB,
2001/02, 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06
Average
2001/02 Proportion of
total expenses
Average
2003/04 Proportion of
total expenses
Average
2004/05 Proportion of
total expenses
Average
2005/06 Proportion of
total expenses
Total
1
Expenses
£99,630
Business
£9,360
Premises
£8,920
Employee
£28,500
Car and
travel
£2,580
Interest
£3,020
Depreciation
Other
£4,610 £37,970
Net capital
allowances
£4,680
£104,590
9%
£10,260
9%
£9,290
29%
£31,790
3%
£2,480
3%
£2,550
5%
38%
£4,840 £38,570
5%
£4,800
£128,590
10%
£11,490
9%
£10,570
30%
£39,430
2%
£2,620
2%
£3,080
5%
37%
£5,700 £50,750
5%
£4,960
£138,050
9%
£12,470
8%
£11,550
31%
£41,850
2%
£2,670
2%
£3,460
4%
39%
£5,970 £55,330
4%
£4,760
9%
8%
30%
2%
3%
4%
40%
3%
Notes:
1
Total expenses include disallowable expenses (i.e. expenses that are not allowed, for tax
purposes, because they are for personal, and not business, use). Figures in preceding tables
(except table 7) excluded disallowable expenses and averages are as a result slightly lower.
3.17. HMRC statisticians have also supplied the detailed expenses
breakdown by NHS commitment band. This is shown in Table 11:
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
18
Table 11: Average expenses breakdown, GDS non-associates,
2005/06, by NHS commitment
NHS Commitment Level
Low
Medium
High
Very High
Total
Total
Expenses
Business
Premises
Employee
Car and
travel
Interest
Depreciation
Other
Net capital
allowances
£181,159
£157,693
£101,717
£81,661
£146,366
£15,335
£13,407
£10,524
£7,055
£13,028
£15,223
£12,136
£9,845
£8,642
£12,601
£53,567
£47,182
£33,358
£26,213
£44,542
£2,872
£2,672
£2,465
£2,580
£2,689
£4,717
£4,013
£2,653
£1,735
£3,777
£7,690
£5,655
£4,409
£3,225
£6,041
£75,115
£67,627
£35,058
£29,327
£58,575
£6,641
£5,001
£3,406
£2,884
£5,113
Notes:
1
These figures are not consistent with the analysis in the rest of the paper due to using Q4
data only. Excludes data where commitment level >110%.
2
The expenses estimates include disallowable expenses whereas the earlier NHS
commitment analysis excluded disallowable expenses.
3.18. Table 11 shows that the higher average expenses for dentists with a
low NHS commitment (and hence the high expenses to earnings ratio)
can mainly be explained by higher ‘”other” expenses. HMRC
statisticians investigated this further, as part of the 2003/04 analyses,
and found that over two thirds of the “other” expenses for dentists with
low NHS commitment were “cost of sales”, i.e. cost of purchasing raw
materials/ items sold. This is likely to include the laboratory cost
elements, e.g. crowns and dentures. HMRC statisticians also reported
that a further 15% of the “other” expenses for these dentists were
“other direct costs associated with dental practice”, such as costs of
bought in services. This might take the form of engagement of a
private hygienist, and possibly other private services, e.g. bought-in
cosmetic dentistry services.
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
19
GDS Associate dentists
4.1. This section of the paper provides high level earnings and expenses
analyses on GDS associate dentists. Associates are dentists who
have formal business links with other dentists. Such links take the form
of associate arrangements whereby gross fee payments are
transferred between two or more dentists for the meeting of expenses
costs. There are three types of associates:
•
•
•
First party: provide premises and facilities in return for an agreed
share of the fees of the second party – this group makes up an
estimated 27% of the GDS population;
Second party: pay a contribution to the first party in return for use
of premises and facilities – estimated to make up 40% of the GDS
population;
Partners of associates: partners who are themselves not
associates but are in partnership with an associate - estimated to
make up 3% of the GDS population. Average net income results
only are supplied for this group.
4.2. The weighted results for each associate type, by detailed group, can
be found in Tables 12 and 13:
Table 12: 2005/06 main results: GDS first party associates, GB
Age
< 44
London
45+
< 352
35-443
Rest of GB
45-544
55+5
All men
Women
Men
1
All ages
< 44
Rest of GB
45+
6
All women
London
All dentists
DRSG
Effective
population returns
214
48
244
95
153
40
716
331
950
525
414
215
2,691
1,254
118
298
211
627
3,318
32
135
132
299
1,553
Average
gross
earnings
£418,897
£408,226
£330,818
£368,791
£360,154
£347,085
£367,799
Average
Average Expenses
net
expenses ratio (%)
income
£296,769
70.8%
£122,127
£286,732
70.2%
£121,494
£225,285
68.1%
£105,532
£244,029
66.2%
£124,763
£240,300
66.7%
£119,854
£231,232
66.6%
£115,854
£247,742
67.4%
£120,057
£287,158
£298,940
£289,000
£293,378
£205,349
£208,820
£199,439
£205,010
71.5%
69.9%
69.0%
69.9%
£81,809
£90,119
£89,560
£88,367
£353,735 £239,667
67.8%
£114,068
Notes:
1. “London” refers to dentists registered within the London Government Office Region
(GOR). “Rest of GB” refers to those outside the London GOR
2. <35 based on 40 males not in London GOR
3. 35-44 based on 331 males not in the London GOR.
4. 45-54 based on 525 males not in the London GOR
5. 55+ based on 215 males not in the London GOR.
6. 32 females from the London GOR were excluded from the detailed age group
analyses due to full age breakdowns for this group being unavailable.
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
20
Men
Table 13: 2005/06 main results: GDS second party associates, GB
Age
< 35
35-44
London1
45+2
< 35
35-44
Rest of GB
45-54
55+
All men
<35
35-44
45+
< 35
35-44
Rest of GB
45-54
55+
All women
258
159
66
789
695
297
71
2336
89
64
37
397
384
172
42
1185
£72,888
£68,677
£55,309
£79,210
£68,270
£66,505
£76,706
£72,170
£19,505
£16,244
£13,544
£24,070
£21,002
£20,402
£25,226
£21,391
26.8%
23.7%
24.5%
30.4%
30.8%
30.7%
32.9%
29.6%
£53,383
£52,434
£41,765
£55,141
£47,268
£46,104
£51,480
£50,779
All dentists
4,751
2,176
£91,827
£30,702
33.4%
£61,125
London
Women
DRSG
Effective
population returns
234
54
160
51
158
67
714
313
579
241
340
164
230
101
2415
991
Expenses
Average
Average
to
net
gross
Average earnings
income
earnings expenses ratio (%)
£101,395 £34,229
33.8% £67,166
£130,685 £61,450
47.0% £69,235
£113,445 £43,279
38.1% £70,166
£102,414 £32,123
31.4% £70,291
£123,522 £44,495
36.0% £79,027
£121,581 £47,139
38.8% £74,442
£83,118 £28,158
33.9% £54,960
£110,837 £39,707
35.8% £71,130
Notes:
1
London” refers to dentists registered within the London Government Office Region
(GOR). “Rest of GB” refers to those outside the London GOR
2
Due to small numbers in some of the detailed age group, estimates of EER are
unreliable therefore data was complied for wider age groups.
4.3. The key findings are as follows:
•
Average net income for first party associates and partners of
associates were £114,068 and £104,908 respectively with second
party associates earning the least, £61,125.
•
The gender breakdowns show that, as was seen for nonassociates, men have higher earnings, expenses and net income
than women across all associate types. This may, in part, be a
result of the fact that women tend to work a shorter week than
men, as has been discussed previously
•
The regional breakdowns reveal that, generally, the net income of
first party associates in London is higher than that of dentists
elsewhere in Great Britain. The only exception to this is for women,
but the sample of female first party associates in London is very
small and therefore results for this group should be treated with
caution.
•
The average EER for all first part associates is 67.8%, higher than
the 57.8% EER measured for non-associates, reflecting the fact
that first party associates normally cover some of the expenses of
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
21
second party associates who in turn have lower expenses ratios
(33.4%).
Detailed Expenses Breakdown for GDS associates
4.4. Tables 14 and 15 provide, for each associate type, a breakdown of
expenses into the broad sub-categories used in the tax selfassessment return:
Table 14: Average expenses breakdown, GDS first party associates,
2005/06, GB
Total
Car and
Expenses1 Business Premises Employee travel
All first party associates (GB)
Men
Women6
250,655
259,073
214,529
2
18,657
16,182
74,215
19,637
14,450
16,649
14,180
77,076
61,941
2,860
3,035
2,110
Interest
4,529
4,586
4,285
Depreciation
7,763
7,833
7,461
Other
Net capital
allowances
119,588
6,861
123,224
103,980
7,033
6,123
Aged under 35
Aged 35-443
Aged 45-544
5
Aged 55+
Aged 44 and under for males in L
Aged 45 and over
£236,685
£255,145
£250,932
£243,879
£253,908
£250,557
£17,989
£19,196
£19,199
£18,841
£18,360
£19,177
£13,782
£16,068
£15,221
£17,657
£15,693
£16,644
£67,220
£72,735
£82,761
£78,001
£70,332
£78,777
£2,581
£2,729
£3,128
£3,259
£2,665
£3,054
£7,328
£5,309
£3,829
£2,309
£5,982
£3,337
£9,216
£8,165
£7,327
£6,925
£8,782
£7,072
£106,911
£123,722
£112,928
£111,759
£123,994
£116,486
£11,658
£7,220
£6,539
£5,129
£8,102
£6,009
London7
Elsewhere in GB
£285,046
£243,431
£20,787
£18,209
£19,386
£15,509
£69,374
£75,232
£3,045
£2,822
£6,107
£4,197
£8,264
£7,658
£150,655
£113,061
£7,429
£6,741
Notes:
1. Total expenses include disallowable expenses (i.e. expenses that are not allowed, for
tax purposes, because they are for personal, and not business, use). Figures in
preceding tables excluded disallowable expenses and averages are as a result
slightly lower
2. <35 based on 40 males not in London GOR
3. 35-44 based on 331 males not in the London GOR.
4. 45-54 based on 525 males not in the London GOR
5. 55+ based on 215 males not in the London GOR.
6. 32 females from the London GOR were excluded from the detailed age group
analyses due to full age breakdowns for this group being unavailable.
7. “London” refers to dentists registered within the London Government Office Region
(GOR). “Rest of GB” refers to those outside the London GOR
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
22
Table 15: Average expenses breakdown, second party associates,
2005/06, GB
Total Expenses1
Business Premises Employee
Car and
travel
Interest
Depreciation
Other
Net capital
allowances
All second party associates (GB)
£32,755
£4,326
£2,517
£2,835
£1,466
£291
£666
£19,827
£827
Men
Women
£42,541
£22,636
£5,105
£3,520
£3,568
£1,431
£4,760
£844
£1,827
£1,093
£485
£90
£1,048
£271
£24,538
£14,956
£1,209
£431
Aged under 35
Aged 35-44
Aged 45-542
Aged 55+3
£29,328
£35,639
£36,704
£28,785
£4,118
£4,240
£5,126
£4,020
£2,103
£2,689
£2,648
£3,320
£1,493
£3,071
£5,253
£4,019
£1,286
£1,529
£1,565
£1,774
£140
£493
£293
£157
£486
£1,057
£519
£107
£19,006
£21,556
£20,498
£14,590
£695
£1,003
£802
£798
Aged 45 and over
£34,680
£4,800
£2,993
£4,813
£1,688
£271
£439
£18,865
£810
London
Elsewhere in GB
£34,251
£32,339
£4,832
£4,185
£2,615
£2,490
£4,295
£2,428
£1,677
£1,407
£482
£237
£798
£629
£18,548
£20,184
£1,003
£778
Notes:
Total expenses include disallowable expenses (i.e. expenses that are not allowed, for
tax purposes, because they are for personal, and not business, use). Figures in preceding
tables excluded disallowable expenses and averages are as a result slightly lower.
2
Based on dentists not in the London GOR.
3
Based on 101 males and 42 females not in the London GOR.
1
4.5. The key findings are:
•
In line with the non-associate results, the biggest expense incurred
by all associate types is “other” expenses. For first party associates,
the next biggest expense is that incurred on paying employees. This
is not the case for second party associates however, who, on
average, incur employee costs that constitute only 9% of their
expenses.
•
There are differences between men and women, with men generally
incurring higher expenses than women. However, given that men
work longer hours than women, it is possible that the results reflect
different business arrangements among associates, which may
depend on hours worked.
•
Among the first and second party associates, expenses are higher
in London than they are in the rest of Great Britain.
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
23
PDS Whole-Year dentists
5.1. This section of the paper provides high level earnings and expenses
analyses on PDS Whole-Year dentists. A PDS Whole-Year dentist is
defined as a dentist who was working on a PDS contract prior to 1
April 2005 and who remained as a PDS dentist until at least March 31st
2006. Hence they were a PDS dentist for the whole year of the study.
5.2. There are two classes of PDS Whole-Year dentists which can be
defined as follows.
•
PDS Providers: A Provider is a dentist who has signed a legal
contract with a PCT to provide dental services to the general
public. The Provider is legally responsible for ensuring that the
required dental services are delivered, and that they comply with
pre-defined standards to ensure that the public receives adequate
dental care. A Provider does not necessarily have to do all of the
work required by the contract him/her self.
•
PDS Performers: A Performer is a dentist who actually performs
clinical work on patients. A Performer works under the PDS
contract held by a Provider (see above) and the Provider can
employ more than one Performer in order to deliver the dental care
that the contract requires. It is possible for a Provider to also act as
a Performer in order to deliver dental care
5.3. There is no central record to indicate who among the PDS population
are Providers and who are Performers. To solve this problem an
assumption was made by considering the Expenses to Earnings
Ratios (EER) of the PDS Whole-Year population as shown in Figure 4
below.
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
24
Figure 4: Distribution of EER among the PDS Whole-Year population.
900
800
700
NO. OF DENTISTS
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0
0%-10%
10%-20%
20%-30%
30%-40%
40%-50%
50%-60%
60%-70%
70%-80%
80%-90%
over 90%
Expenses to Earnings Ratio
5.4. Given the distribution shown above, the population was split by
assuming that those with an EER less than 30% were Performers
(since they would have little or no business expenses being an
employee of another dentist) and those with an EER greater than 30%
were Providers (since they would incur the expenses associated with
running a dental practice). Note that there is uncertainty as to the
exact Provider/Performer status of those dentists with an EER around
the 30% mark.
5.5. Further to this, any Providers with an EER greater than 90% were
considered to be outliers and were excluded from the analysis. The
results for Providers and Performers are shown below.
Table 16: Main results for PDS Whole-year Providers, GB.
Providers have been identified by assuming that they are dentists with an
Expenses to Earnings Ratio greater than 0.3 and less than 0.9.
All Quarters
Capital
Other
Total
Net
Expenses to
Earnings Ratio
Sample Population Income Allowances Expenses Expenses Income
All
1,243
2,094 £315,859
£6,218
£181,731 £187,949
£127,910
59.5%
Table 17: Main results for PDS Whole-year Performers, GB.
Performers have been identified by assuming that they are dentists with an
Expenses to Earnings Ratio less than 0.3.
All Quarters
Capital
Other
Total
Net
Expenses to
Earnings Ratio
Sample Population Income Allowances Expenses Expenses Income
All
955
1,609 £75,698
£710
£9,136
£9,846
£65,852
13.0%
5.6. Key findings are that for PDS Providers average net income was
£127,910, with an average EER of 59.5%, while for PDS Performers
the average net income was £65,852, with an average EER of 13.0%
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
25
PDS Switched dentists
6.1. This section of the paper provides high level earnings and expenses
analyses on PDS Switched dentists. A PDS Switched dentist is
defined as a dentist who switched from a GDS to a PDS contract at
some point during the year i.e. between April 1st 2005 and March 31st
2006. Hence their tax returns show a mixture of earnings from GDS
and PDS contracts, although it is not possible to determine what
proportion of the earnings came from which source. Further to this, it is
not possible to determine whether the dentist entered the PDS
contract as a Provider or as a Performer. Hence, the results shown are
for all PDS Switchers combined.
6.2. The weighted results for PDS Switched dentists (combined providers
and performers) are shown below.
6.3. It is not possible to determine what proportion of earnings came from
GDS and PDS contracts, nor is it possible to determine whether the
dentist entered the PDS contract as a Provider or a Performer. Table
18 below is included to provide a complete picture of dental contract
arrangements.
Table 18: Main results for PDS Switched dentists, GB.
All Quarters
Capital
Other
Total
Net
Expenses to
Sample Population Income Allowances Expenses Expenses Income Earnings Ratio
1,543
3,299 £191,714
£3,368
£98,955 £102,323 £89,391
53.4%
All
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
26
Appendix: Methodology
7.1. The data for the GDS population were sourced from the Business
Services Authority: Dental Services Division (DSD) for England &
Wales and NHS Scotland for Scotland. Dentists were chosen if they
were in the Dental Rates Study Group (DRSG) in 2005/06 (as at
February 28th 2006). The DRSG excludes the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dentists that have only worked for part of the period, possibly
because they have just started work;
Dentists that retired;
Dentists working in PDS only;
Dentists working under both GDS and PDS contract arrangements;
Dentists with no scheduled earnings in the last 6 months of the
period; and
Dentists working for corporate bodies.
7.2. Note that, although the DRSG excludes PDS dentists, it has been
possible to analyse the earnings of PDS dentists separately, also
using DSD data, and results are included in the later sections of this
report. Unlike the data for the GDS analyses, the PDS data includes
all dentists (including dentists working for corporate bodies).
7.3. The data on the associate status of the DRSG dentists was validated
via a survey exercise conducted on behalf of the IC. The final sample
of dentists was made up of all dentists who responded to confirm their
associate status. Dentists were also allocated to one of the 20 strata
depending on their gender, age group and region. This allowed results
to take account of known differences in the earnings profiles for these
groups and to correct for differing response rates within each group.
7.4. The IC passed details of the dentists in the sample to statisticians in
the HMRC Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence (KAI) division, who
were then able to trace most of the dentists in the sample, extract the
relevant expenses and earnings information from the self-assessment
database and create an anonymised dataset for analysis. The IC then
received this information in aggregated tables. HMRC statisticians
confirmed that the accounts of dentists in the final sample covered a
full 12-month period and ended between 6th April 2005 and 5th April
2006
7.5. The number of dentists in the final dataset to be analysed by HMRC
statisticians who were successfully traced, submitted a valid tax return
and passed the validation rules was 9,393. The information included
earnings from all income but only for those dentists who are classified
as self-employed during a 12-month accounting period, regardless of
when in 2005/06 the accounting year ended. Dentists with a mixture of
self-employment and salaried earnings (NHS and private) are present
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
27
on the final dataset as dentists were only excluded if they reported
zero in the income fields relating to their self-employment. This report
concentrates on their self-employment income and it is these figures
that are used in the analysis. Any salaried incomes they have reported
are ignored. The analyses does not look at their total income being the
sum of salaried and self-employed income and the report does not
look at what proportion of their total income is salaried.
7.6. The non-associate population for the enquiry excludes “outliers” (those
non-associates with expenses to earnings ratios less than 0.2 or
greater than 0.9) and individuals known to have income from nondental sources. This brought the methodology into line with similar
reports on GP earnings and led to the exclusion of 2.3% of the final
sample of non-associates (40 individuals).
7.7. The above exclusion criteria for outliers have been applied to first
party associates i.e. those with expenses to earnings ratios less than
0.2 or greater than 0.9 have been excluded: this led to 4.5% of the first
party associates (74 individuals) being excluded. However, different
rules have been applied to second party associates. Those second
party associates with expenses to earnings ratios less than 0.2 are
included in analysis. Low ratios are common in this population and are
not “outliers” as such. Only those second party associates with an
expenses to earnings ratio greater than 0.9 have been excluded. This
resulted in 0.2% of second party associates being excluded (4
individuals).
7.8. For PDS Providers, (those with an expenses to earnings ratio greater
than 30%), 51 outliers (3.9% of that population) were removed
because they had an expenses ratio grater than 90%. There were no
exclusion criteria for PDS Performers, who were assumed to be those
PDS dentists with an expenses to earnings ratio less than 30%.
7.9. To maintain taxpayer confidentiality and reduce the likelihood of
estimates being vulnerable to extreme values, HMRC statisticians did
not provide information on any sub-groups of 30 or less. This
necessitated the combining of some strata and hence the suppression
of results for some groups of dentists from certain detailed analyses.
Footnotes are provided in such cases.
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
28
Other Publications
Other publications on Dental statistics include:
•
General Dental Services Payment Report 2005/06
This report examines the changes in average gross fee income of General
Dental Service (GDS) dentists in England and Wales up to 2005/06.
Available on the IC website via this link:
http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/primarycare/dentistry/general-dental-service-payment-report-2005-06
•
NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2006/07
This report considers NHS dental activity and workforce in the first year of the
new dental contract.
Available on the IC website via this link:
http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/primary-care/dentistry/nhsdental-statistics-2006-07
•
NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006
This report covers treatment provided under the General Dental Service
(GDS) and the Personal Dental Service (PDS), often referred to as “high
street dentists”, In England up to 31 March 2006, the day before the new NHS
dental contract was introduced. Most of the data are presented over a tenyear period. Detailed data at PCT, SHA and parliamentary constituency level
are included as annexes to this report. The boundaries used are as at 31
March 2006.
Available on the IC website via this link:
http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dwfactivity
•
Dental Earnings and Expenses Report 2004/05
This report provides a detailed study of the earnings and expenses of General
Dental Service (GDS) dentists in GB (from all sources - NHS and private) and
is based on tax data for dentists with an accounting year ending in 2004/05.
All averages in the report relate to both full-time and part-time dentists. For
non-associate dentists, time series results are presented up to and including
the financial year 2004/05. Non-associates are dentists who do not have
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
29
formal business links with other dentists. For associate dentists, headline
analyses are provided for 2004/05 only.
Available on the IC website via this link:
http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/primarycare/dentistry/dental-earnings-and-expenses-report-2004-05
•
Dental Contracts Statistics
DH publishes regular information on dental commissioning and progress in
resolving contracts signed in dispute.
Available on the DH website via this link:
http://www.performance.doh.gov.uk/dental_contracts/index.htm
Note that this data collection is not directly comparable with the activity
statistics presented earlier in this report as the DH collection asks for UDAs
commissioned for a forward looking 12 months so cannot be compared to
actual activity in the previous 12 months.
•
Survey of General Dental Practitioners’ Workload: DDRB, 2001.
Available on the National Statistics website via the link:
http://www.stats.gov.uk/statistics
For general enquiries
• 0845 300 6016 or [email protected]; or
The Information Centre website: http://www.ic.nhs.uk
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care Statistics. All rights reserved.
30
Primary Care Statistics
Published by the Information Centre
Part of the Government Statistical Service
Price: Free
ISBN: 978-1-84636-154-8
This publication may be requested in large print or other formats.
For further information contact:
online: www.ic.nhs.uk
telephone:0845 300 6016
email: [email protected]
Copyright © 2007, The Information Centre, Primary Care
Statistics. All rights reserved.
This work remains the sole and exclusive property of The
Information Centre and may only be reproduced where there
is explicit reference to the ownership of The Information
Centre.
This work may only be reproduced in a modified format with
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