Funding uplift

Following careful consideration of the potential consequences of accepting the award uplift or pursuing a legal case, the BDA’s Scottish Dental Practice Committee (SDPC) has decided not to pursue a judicial review of Scottish Government's decision to recover alleged overpayments of patient registration fees. It was made clear to SDPC by Scottish government that if such a challenge were made, the uplift agreed by SDPC in good faith earlier this year would not be honoured. This would have led to practices across Scotland being deprived of the funding indefinitely. It would also have caused significant pension detriment in the long term. Instead now, the uplift will be implemented from November 1st 2013 and backdated to April 1^st.

A challenge could also have created further financial jeopardy, because in the event of an unsuccessful review the BDA would have been liable for both the Scottish Government’s costs and its own.

The BDA’s legal challenge to the proposal had already forced the Government to re-examine and delay implementation, allowing practitioners more time to understand the potential impact on their own practices and prepare for appeals where appropriate. It has also seen the timescale for the process extended and an appeals process for those who believe they are incorrectly being subjected to it established, following representations from SDPC.