Thank you for your request for information about the following:

'• The total amount in pounds sterling deducted from NHS Dental Contracts for abatement due to Covid arrangements for the financial year 2020/1

That is the amount that equated to the 16.75% abatement for undelivered activity subsequently replaced by the 12.75% figure

And similarly

• The amount was deducted for the same reason for the financial year 2021/2

Can you also provide the total clawback figure for 2021/22 for all contracts please’

Your request was received on 13 December 2022 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

A copy of the information is attached. The data only applies to English dental practices.

The data is provided in two separate spread sheets as follows:

Adjustments, and Abatements and Deductions

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

It may be of assistance if we explain that the abatement applied to the total contract value only across the period 1 April 2020 – 7 June 2020 for non-UDC practices (Urgent Dental Care Centres) in recognition of the reduction in consumable costs associated with significantly reduced and altered service delivery.

The adjustment, however, reflected variable costs not incurred for undelivered UDAs/UOAs and was in place over the following time periods:

• January 2021 to March 2021 and April 2021 to September 2021 (16.75% adjustment);

• October 2021 to March 2022 and April 2022 to June 2022 (12.75% adjustment);

• April 2022 to March 2023 (12.75% adjustment – for practices that exited the prototype programme).

Estimates include all adjustments processed through Compass as of 08/12/22. Please note estimate are subject to changes due to ongoing queries or disputes. Both the Adjustments for Underperformance (UPS) estimate and the Variable Cost Adjustments (ADJ) estimate have been included here, however ADJ does not relate to underperformance and has been included solely to provide context.

General conditions required for income protection

In order to receive income protection for any time period, the minimum or performance threshold and contractual requirements must be met.

The following requirements must also be met across the year:

• All required declarations must be submitted in full via NHSBSA Compass system.

• All annual declarations should be fully completed. A failure to fully complete these will result in contractual sanctions being issued irrespective of the level of contract delivery.

• All NHS funded capacity must be used to deliver the maximum possible volume of safe care for patients.

If these conditions have not been met contractors will revert to normal contractual payment and financial recovery arrangements.

Conditions required for full income protection (no performance recovery but may have a variable cost adjustment as set out below)

In the case of any contractor delivering 100% of their total actual annual contract activity across the year, irrespective of how that activity is distributed across the year, they will be deemed to have successfully delivered actual contract activity and no adjustment to contract payment will be made at year end.

Where 100% of the total actual annual contract activity has not been delivered, but contractors have met all the conditions of income protection requirements and achieved or exceeded the performance threshold in each time period, the contractor will be eligible for 100% of their actual contract value in that period adjusted for variable costs to reflect reduced patient care activity. This variable rate will be calculated as below:

• 16.75% April 2021 to September 2021 – H1.

• 12.75% October 2021 to March 2022 – Quarter 3 and Quarter 4.

Conditions required for partial income protection (Both performance recovery and variable cost adjustment)

Contracts that have met all the conditions of income protection described in paragraph 8 and who have delivered levels of care between the minimum threshold and the performance threshold in H1 and/or Q3 and/or Q4 will be eligible for partial income protection in that period on a sliding scale (see worked example 2) between the minimum threshold and performance threshold. The adjustment for variable costs will be applied as above to reflect reduced patient care activity.

Where income protection will not apply (performance recovery only)

Where a contractor has performed below the minimum threshold in H1 and/or Q3, and/or Q4 normal contractual rules will apply in that period and contractors will only be paid for activity delivered.

For a more in-depth description of the 2021/22 Year End Reconciliation process, please see the below web link

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/03/B1277-Managing-the-2021-22-year-end-reconciliation-5-April-2022.pdf

Abatements (1 April – 7 June 2020)

All GDS contract and PDS agreements had a 16.75% abatement applied to the Negotiated Annual Contract Value (NACV) across the period 1 April to 7 June 2020. No abatement applied to commissioned Urgent Dental Care Providers or Orthodontic close down agreements. Where non-recurrent changes have been made to the contract value in 2020/21, the abatement calculation will factor this into any recovery.

Adjustment - 1 January to 31 March 2021

Subject to achieving the minimum expected delivery requirements for this period, an adjustment of 16.75% to reflect variable costs not incurred due to the reduced patient care activity has been calculated for any undelivered activity between 1 January to 31 March 2021. Where delivery is below this minimum requirement no additional adjustment will be made as this will be incorporated into the total year end recovery.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact nhsbsa.communicationsteam@nhs.net. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2022” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.