Last night NHS England indicated that mixed dental practices (practices with both NHS and private income) will be able to claim additional government support in relation to their private income which includes the ability to furlough some of their staff.
While the detailed rules are still to be announced, our expectation is that practices will be able to furlough some of their staff (probably based on staff costs) with reference to the proportion of private income the practice earns.
This will inevitably lead to difficulties in allocation of staff where they are involved in both NHS and private work. The starting point is to allocate staff to NHS or private based on the majority of their work, or if this is not possible, allocate according to the proportion of fees from each type of work.
For example, if fees are 50% private and 50% NHS – staff costs total, say £100,000.
£100,000 x 50% (proportion of private fees being 50%) = £50,000.
Staff with total accumulated salaries of £50,000 or less could be furloughed.
You may also consider the preference of your staff to be furloughed and receive 80% of their pay (subject to a maximum of £2,500 per month) or make themselves available for re-deployment. It may not be possible to please everyone but you are able to rotate staff between furloughed and non-furloughed as often as every three weeks if required.
We will update you when further details are announced, however, if you have any questions please speak to a member of our Healthcare team or your usual BHP contact.
