Comparative grid

This is according to the National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers (NASDAL). Appalled by the proposed 64 per cent increase in the cost of the General Dental Council’s annual registration fee, a NASDAL team carried out an investigation into the overall cost of compliance.

They found that the advent of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and HTM01-05 had increased dentists’ costs by a factor of seven. In 2004, the essential requirements for setting up in practice were a one-off registration fee to the General Dental Council and an annual retention fee and registration with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

But in 2014, it has been estimated that it costs a single handed practitioner £11,200 on an annual basis to meet the requirements of the CQC and HTM01-05 alone. Combined with the various mandatory registration fees and indemnity, the figure goes up to £15,011, an overall percentage increase in the cost of compliance of 845 per cent, compared to general inflation over the same period of 37 per cent.