GDC renewal for dentists: the £698 fee and indemnity declaration by 31 December 2026, the CPD statement by 28 January 2027

By 31 December 2026 every dentist on the General Dental Council (GDC) register must pay the £698 annual retention fee and declare that indemnity is in place. The continuing professional development (CPD) statement for 2026 is due four weeks later, by 28 January 2027.

The GDC lists renewal as three steps: make an indemnity declaration, pay the fee, make a CPD statement. A practice manager cannot do any of them for a dentist, but can keep the dates.

The dates

The GDC says renewal opens "around six weeks before the year ends", which puts it in the second half of November. It gives no fixed opening date.

The fee

The fee is £698 for the year to 31 December 2027, plus £72 for each specialist title. The GDC says there is "no reduction if you work part time". A dentist pays by card in MyGDC, by annual direct debit, or in four payments of £174.50.

For instalments, the direct debit must be set up "by midnight on 31 October". The four payments are taken on or around 1 December 2026, 2 March 2027, 1 June 2027 and 1 September 2027, and a specialist fee is collected in full with the first.

A dentist who misses an instalment must pay the rest of the year's fee by the end of that month. After that the GDC may remove them, and "you will not be able to pay by instalments for two years".

Once the fee and declaration are in, the expiry date in MyGDC changes to 31 December 2027. That is the check to ask each dentist for.

The indemnity declaration

Each dentist declares that they have indemnity, or will have it before they start to practise. A dentist covered by an employer's policy makes the same declaration, and the GDC says they "will need to make sure you have, or can access, the details of the policy". If the GDC asks for those details, the time limit is 28 days.

Two more points from the GDC's guidance. Relying on personal savings is not permitted. A false declaration "may be considered a fitness to practise matter".

The CPD statement

A dentist's CPD year runs from 1 January to 31 December, and the statement for it is made in MyGDC by 28 January. The rules behind it:

• at least 100 hours of verifiable CPD in each five-year cycle
• at least 10 hours in every two-year period
• a statement every year, even one that records zero hours

After the deadline the statement cannot be amended. A dentist who is finishing a cycle short of hours can ask for a grace period of 56 days. The request has to go in before the cycle ends.

The GDC says a dentist who does not meet the minimum, or fails to make a statement, "may be removed from the register".

If the deadline is missed

The GDC's words: "If you miss the payment deadline, your name may be removed from the register and, if you are not registered, you will not be able to practise in the UK." It also sends the NHS a list of those removed.

Coming back is by restoration. The application needs a character reference from a professional who has known the dentist for over 12 months, an online identity check, a CPD declaration and a fee. The GDC says: "We aim to assess complete applications within 15 working days from the date we receive it", and longer at peak times.

The restoration fee falls month by month. The 2026 table shows £698.00 for a dentist restoring in January and £639.87 in February. The 2027 table was not published when we read the page.

A worked example

A practice has four dentists, one of them on a specialist list.

• Fees due by 31 December 2026: 4 × £698 = £2,792, plus £72, which is £2,864.
• By instalments, the first payment is £174.50 for three of them and £246.50 for the specialist.

One associate forgets, and is removed. A complete restoration application goes in on Monday 4 January 2027. Fifteen working days later is Monday 25 January 2027.

Until the name is back on the register, that surgery has no dentist. Our surgery hourly rate calculator uses an example practice whose surgeries cost £57.41 an hour to run and open 37.5 hours a week, which is 7.5 a day. Fifteen days is 112.5 hours, and 112.5 × £57.41 = £6,458.63 of running cost with no fee income against it. Every patient booked in those three weeks has to be moved.

A tracker to copy

Ask each dentist to confirm the last two columns in writing: the first by 31 December, the second by 28 January. Then check each name against the register in the first week of January.

What the practice pays

The fee is the dentist's own. The GDC says: "It is your responsibility to pay your fee on time." What the practice itself owes its regulators in a year is added up in the fees guide. Dental care professionals renew on a different date, 31 July, with a CPD statement by 28 August.

Renewal dates belong in the same file as the training and DBS records an inspector asks for, listed in the CQC front desk evidence guide.

A GDC-registered professional or the practice manager reviews anything a tool drafts before it reaches a patient. This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.