Petition Abandon proposals to cut the dental foundation training salary

A proposal to reduce the salary for newly-qualified dentists undertaking dental foundation training (DFT) should be abandoned.

Reducing the salary by almost eight per cent is a significant cut in pay that will have practical implications for newly-qualified dentists who are emerging from dental schools with increasingly significant debt. This cut would make the financial challenge they already face as they struggle to complete the training required to provide NHS care even more acute.

In addition to the practical implications it will have for the young dentists it will directly affect, such an attack on the most junior and vulnerable members of the profession will send a worrying signal that is likely to damage both their morale and that of more experienced colleagues.

The signatories to this petition call for the proposed cut to be abandoned and for newly-qualified dentists to be supported, not undermined, by Department of Health policy.