Dental practice payroll

Often yes. Employees of practices holding NHS contracts can be eligible for NHS Pension Scheme membership, and it is a far better benefit than auto-enrolment — but it costs the practice considerably more, so it needs to be budgeted rather than discovered. The total employer contribution rate is 23.7% of pensionable pay, of which employers are asked to pay 14.38% for 2026/27, with the balance funded centrally. Compare that with the 3% auto-enrolment employer minimum on qualifying earnings and the difference on a single full-time nurse runs to several thousand pounds a year. Eligibility, enrolment, the tiered member deductions and the accounting all have to be right, and this is the area where we most often find practices have quietly got it wrong.

Usually not. The standard associate agreement is a self-employed arrangement, so associates are paid against their pay schedules rather than through PAYE, and putting them on payroll would create employer's National Insurance at 15% and pension obligations that do not otherwise arise. But the label has to match the facts. Guaranteed minimum pay, fixed sessions the associate cannot decline, practice-supplied everything and no real financial risk are the features that drag an arrangement towards employment, and it is HMRC's view of the substance that decides, not the wording of the agreement. The same question applies to self-employed hygienists and therapists. We review those arrangements as part of the payroll setup rather than waiting for an enquiry to raise them.

For our clients it is part of the fixed monthly practice fee rather than a per-payslip meter, so taking on a new nurse does not generate a new invoice from us. The pricing conversation that actually matters is the other one: what each role truly costs you. A nurse on £25,740 costs £29,436 once employer's National Insurance at 15% above the £5,000 secondary threshold and auto-enrolment pension are added, and £32,552 if they are in the NHS Pension Scheme. That loaded figure, not the salary, is what should drive a hiring decision — and our payroll reporting puts it in front of you before you make one, not after.

The employment allowance reduces an eligible employer's secondary Class 1 National Insurance bill by up to £10,500 for 2026/27. Most independent dental practices qualify, and the £100,000 eligibility cap that used to exclude larger employers was removed from April 2025, so more practices qualify now than did two years ago. It is not automatic — it has to be claimed through your payroll software each year, and it stops applying once used up, which means it lands mostly in the first months of the tax year. We claim it for every client who is eligible. If nobody has ever mentioned it to you, it is worth checking whether it has been claimed in prior years, because it can be backdated.

Yes, and it is more common than an April changeover. A mid-year transfer needs three things to move across cleanly: year-to-date pay, tax and National Insurance figures for every employee, the pension scheme details and the assessment history behind them, and your HMRC PAYE and accounts office references. Given those, the first payroll we run under your existing scheme continues the year rather than restarting it, and your team notices nothing except that payslips arrive on time. The one thing worth timing deliberately is the employment allowance claim, so that it is neither missed nor claimed twice in the year of transfer.