The Urgent Dental Care Incentive Scheme launched by NHS England, runs from 25 September 2025 to 31 March 2026.

Its aim is to incentivise dental providers to deliver 25% more urgent care courses of treatment than their baseline activity. Practices that meet the target receive a sum based on £50 per additional urgent course of treatment, and those that meet the lower activity target, receive a sum based on £25 per urgent course of treatment.

This extra money is separated from the standard Units of Dental Activity (UDA). NHS England has not clarified how associates should be remunerated, so this will be up to individual practices and associates to determine.

If the practice receives a payment under the scheme, The BDA suggest each associate has a share based on the amount of urgent care they have provided compared to the practice as a whole, resulting in a fair and proportionate split of the additional income.

The calculation is as follows:

Associate share = IP x (AUCT/PUCT) x %age

Where:

AUCT = The number of urgent care courses of treatment the associate has delivered
PUCT = The total number of urgent care courses of treatment delivered by the practice
IP = The total incentive payment the practice receives under the scheme
%age = the percentage of the practice UDA value which the practice normally pays to the associate
This method ensures that associates are renumerated for the care they have delivered, while the practice retains its share through the usual licence fee.
BDA