The specialist accountants for UK dental professionals WhatsApp us hello@accountantsfordentists.co.uk
Accountants for Dentists
Home / Practice payroll

Dental practice payroll

Nurses, receptionists, managers, therapists — paid correctly, pensioned correctly, on time every month. And the true cost of every role visible, not buried.

Why dental payroll is different

One team, four kinds of pay

A dental practice payroll isn't a normal small-business payroll. Employed nurses and reception staff sit alongside self-employed associates and hygienists who must not be on the payroll; hours flex with surgery days; and staff of NHS practices can be eligible for the NHS pension scheme — a hugely valuable benefit with employer contributions far beyond auto-enrolment minimums, and paperwork to match.

  • Monthly payroll run without drama — payslips, starters, leavers, overtime, statutory pay, RTI filed on time
  • Pensions handled both ways — auto-enrolment for eligible staff, NHS pension membership administered where your team qualifies
  • Status kept clean — associates and self-employed hygienists paid correctly outside PAYE, with the arrangements reviewed so they'd survive scrutiny
  • Everything lands in Xero — payroll flows straight into your accounts and your staff-cost ratio, no re-keying
Move your payroll to us Employment status guide
Dental team working with a patient
The cost side

Payroll is your biggest controllable cost — treat it like one

Employer national insurance now runs at 15% from a low £5,000 threshold, and every April's minimum-wage rise feeds through your pay scales. The employment allowance gives most independent practices up to £10,500 of that back — we claim it automatically where you qualify — but the bigger lever is visibility: knowing what each role truly costs (salary + NIC + pension + cover) before you hire, and watching staff costs as a percentage of fee income every quarter so drift gets caught in months, not years.

Included with our payroll: a role-cost figure for every hire decision, and your staff-cost ratio tracked against dental benchmarks in the quarterly review. Payroll shouldn't just pay people — it should tell you something.
Payroll questions

What practice owners ask us

Can dental practice staff join the NHS pension?

Often yes — employees of practices holding NHS contracts can be eligible for NHS pension scheme membership, a genuinely valuable benefit that most practices under-communicate and some administer incorrectly. Employer contributions are far higher than auto-enrolment minimums, so eligibility, enrolment and the accounting all need doing properly.

Should my associates be on the payroll?

Usually not — the standard associate agreement is self-employed, so associates are paid against their pay schedules rather than through PAYE. But the label has to match the facts: tightly controlled, guaranteed-pay arrangements can drift into employment territory. We review associate and hygienist arrangements as part of the payroll setup.

What does dental practice payroll cost?

For our clients it's part of the fixed monthly practice fee — not a per-payslip meter. The pricing conversation that actually matters is the other one: what each role truly costs with employer NIC at 15%, pension and cover included, which is exactly what our payroll reporting shows you.

What is the employment allowance and do we qualify?

The employment allowance knocks up to £10,500 a year off an eligible employer's national insurance bill. Most independent dental practices qualify; we claim it automatically where they do. If nobody has mentioned it to you, that's worth a conversation.

Can you take over payroll mid-year?

Yes — payroll transfers cleanly at any point with the right handover: year-to-date figures, pension scheme details and HMRC references move across, and your team notices nothing except that payslips arrive on time.

Ready when you are

Payroll that runs itself — and informs you.

Fixed fee, part of the practice package, transferred cleanly at any point in the year. Your team gets paid; you get the numbers.

Talk about payroll Why only dentists

The monthly dental numbers email

One short email a month: deadlines coming up, rule changes that affect dentists, and one number worth checking in your practice. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Book a free practice review