However, the BADN still strongly believes that £114 per year is an excessive amount for dental nurses – many of them earning only Minimum Wage and often only working part time – particularly in view of the fact that the majority also have to pay for their own indemnity cover, and their CPD costs (which are still not tax-deductible for employees). The BADN continues to urge the GDC to further reduce the ARF for dental nurses, the lowest paid members of the dental team, instead of banding them with hygienists and therapists who receive much higher salaries, and to consider a lower rate for all registrants who work part-time.
The BADN also urges the GDC, and other dental associations, to lobby HMRC for tax relief on CPD costs for all members of the dental team.
Dental nurses who are BADN members may obtain indemnity cover at preferential member rates and can also access free CPD in the quarterly digital “British Dental Nurses’ Journal” via the link in the members’ area of the website. BADN membership costs £50 per year (£44 for part time workers) and also offers free legal and counselling telephone helplines, discounted rates at the National Dental Nursing Conference and other BADN events, members’ area of the BADN website with information and advice, as well as BADN Rewards – a range of money saving discounts and special offers which can save members up to £609.36 a year in a number of areas including insurance policies, holidays, energy suppliers and high street shopping. For more information, visit www.badn.org.uk.