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England TimesEngland Times
Home » Huge number of Brits to lose access to free dental work or prescriptions within days
Lifestyle

Huge number of Brits to lose access to free dental work or prescriptions within days

By staff3 April 2025No Comments7 Mins Read

Universal Credit changes mean over two million people have already stopped seeing a dentist because they lost access to free care or confusing new process meant they assumed they had to start paying NHS charges

14:45, 03 Apr 2025Updated 14:51, 03 Apr 2025

Woman with toothache
Confusion over benefit changes could mean hundreds of thousands miss out(Image: Getty Images/Onoky)

Up to half a million people on low incomes could stop accessing free dentistry from Sunday. Analysis by the British Dental Association suggests that the latest changes come after over two million people stopped seeing an NHS dentist in recent years because they assumed they were no longer exempt from paying dental charges.

Dentists warn Rachel Reeves benefits clampdown will “cast more patients adrift” and come days after dental charges increased again and are now two thirds higher than they were in 2010. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement confirmed plans to scrap half a million recipients of Tax Credit Certificates – who are exempt from NHS dental charges and GP prescription fees – and require them to apply to receive Universal Credit instead.

READ MORE: Huge change to free dental access and prescriptions in days – see if you’ll be affected

Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Chancellor Rachel Reeves
Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Chancellor Rachel Reeves(Image: Getty Images)

READ MORE: Patients’ anger at latest NHS dentist prices hikes as 40,000 people sign Mirror petitionREAD MORE: ‘I couldn’t get an NHS dentist appointment despite agony – then I ended up in a coma’

The transition to Universal Credit from other benefits started under the previous Tory government. The BDA analysis shows 7.8 million claims were made for free dental care by adults in England in 2015/16, falling to 5.4 million in 2023/24. The BDA examined all the benefit groups transitioning to Universal Credit and has found no corresponding growth in paying adult NHS patients.

This means 2.3 million fewer appointments were claimed by this group which includes people on low incomes who generally have worse oral health. Many became ineligible while others were simply unclear whether they still qualified for free NHS care.

Over 500,000 free appointments were claimed by Tax Credit Certificate recipients last year, down from nearly 2.5 million in 2015/16 as a result of the UC transition. These remaining half a million will lose access to automatic eligibility for NHS exemption certificates from April 6.

male dentist with female patient
Many are just going without seeing a dentists for check-ups – storing up worsening oral health problems(Image: Getty Images)

BDA chair Eddie Crouch said: “The architects of welfare reform in the last government threw millions of our patients under a bus. A new government must change tack. The people who lost their entitlement to free dentistry haven’t suddenly started paying for NHS care. They’ve just stopped attending.

“Further changes are set to cast more patients adrift or expose them to the risk of fines because no one is spelling out what these changes mean.”

While the BDA has only assessed English data, this change will hit recipients across all four UK nations. It is calling for £100 fines for ‘misclaiming’ free NHS dentistry to be paused during a transition period to give patients time to work out if they are still eligible.

The BDA says there is widespread public confusion around the changes. Previously everyone on tax credits automatically got free healthcare whereas from next week only some Universal Credit recipients will qualify.

woman dental patient mouth open
Another rise in patient charges this month means dental fees are now almost two thirds higher than 2010(Image: Getty Images)

The Mirror has launched the Dentists for All campaign calling for a return to universal access after data suggests 19 out of 20 practices are not taking on new adult NHS patients.

The NHS dental budget has been held at £3 billion for a decade which the BDA calculates is only enough to care for around half the population of England and has meant a £1 billion real terms cut due to inflation. Patients are being asked to pay an ever greater share of the overall NHS dentistry budget via charges.

Patient charges will be almost two thirds higher than they were back in 2010 with a check up rising from £16.50 to £27.40. A Band 3 treatment like dentures or a crown will increased to £326.70 on Tuesday – £128.70 more than they did in 2010. While Wales introduced record-breaking increases in charge levels last year, the cost of identical treatments is still £66.70 less there for a Band 3, at just £260.

The Mirror and BDA have launched an online petition on the 38 Degrees campaigning platform demanding that the NHS dental charge rise is reversed.

Dentists for All campaign

Save NHS Dentistry petition

Sign our petition to save NHS dentistry and make it fit for the 21st century

Our 3 demands

Everyone should have access to an NHS dentist

More than 12 million people were unable to access NHS dental care last year – more than 1 in 4 adults in England. At the same time 90% of dental practices are no longer accepting new NHS adult patients. Data from the House of Commons Library showed 40% of children didn’t have their recommended annual check-up last year.

Restore funding for dental services and recruit more NHS dentists

The UK spends the smallest proportion of its heath budget on dental care of any European nation. Government spending on dental services in England was cut by a quarter in real terms between 2010 and 2020. The number of NHS dentists is down by more than 500 to 24,151 since the pandemic.

Change the contracts

A Parliamentary report by the Health Select Committee has branded the current NHS dentists’ contracts as “not fit for purpose” and described the state of the service as “unacceptable in the 21st century”. The system effectively sets quotas on the maximum number of NHS patients a dentist can see as it caps the number of procedures they can perform each year. Dentists also get paid the same for delivering three or 20 fillings, often leaving them out of pocket. The system should be changed so it enables dentists to treat on the basis of patient need.

Have you had to resort to drastic measures because you couldn’t access an NHS dentist? Are you a parent struggling to get an appointment for a child? Email [email protected] or call 0800 282591

Matthew McGregor, Chief Executive at 38 Degrees, said: “These new revelations further strengthen what so many of us already know: that the Government urgently needs a stronger plan to fix NHS dentistry, and to find the money needed to make it a reality, so that everyone who needs dental care can access it.

“That’s why hundreds of thousands of us have spent the last year telling the Government: you may not have inherited this dental mess, but it is yours to fix. And we won’t stop our fight until you do. And for those people who receive Universal Credit, and are missing out, the Government must act fast and do much more to simplify and better promote access to NHS dentistry.”

Below view of male dentist about to examine teeth at her office and looking at camera.
Check to see if you can get free NHS dentistry and GP prescriptions(Image: Getty Images)

The BDA says a transition period must be introduced so tax credit recipients are not slapped with £100 fines. The professional body is calling for the transition period to be used to roll out Real Time Exemption Checking to NHS dentists – a system that already exists in pharmacies and allows chemists to quickly check its database and tell customers if they are exempt from NHS charges so they don’t have to go through the process of applying.

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