We are writing to you to explain a new part of the annual renewal process - what’s new, who is
affected and what you need to do.
What is new?
This year, to be able to renew your registration with the GDC you will be required to declare that
you have the necessary indemnity or insurance to cover you in your work.
(You have always needed to have appropriate indemnity or insurance in place - all that has changed
is the need to confirm this annually).
Who needs indemnity/insurance?
All dental professionals need to have appropriate indemnity or insurance in place.
This could be:
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Membership of a dental defence organisation – either your own membership or as part of
your employer’s membership;
Professional indemnity insurance held by you or your employer (including indemnity
insurance provided by your professional association);
NHS indemnity.
If you are a dental nurse who is included in your employer’s membership of a defence organisation,
this meets the requirements and you can make the declaration. However, you should check that you
are definitely included and that this covers all the tasks that you do and all the locations that you
work in.
If you are a dental technician, you need to have, or be included in, an indemnity arrangement or
insurance policy that covers you for all the tasks you carry out.
If you are in one of these groups, you are meeting the GDC requirements and can make the
declaration, but you may not be protected if you do something which leads to a fitness to practise
allegation or a disciplinary process. If you want to take out additional cover, contact one of the
defence organisations or your professional association for advice.
Who does not need indemnity/insurance?
Only a very small number of dental professionals do not require any indemnity or insurance,
including those who are not working and those who work in completely non-clinical roles such as
teaching (and whose employers do not require them to have indemnity or insurance). If you are not
working, you need to be sure that patients can claim if a problem arises from when you were
working.
If you do not have insurance or indemnity for one of these reasons, and you could justify this if you
were asked to explain it, you can still make the declaration. (This means you can still check the box
which asks about indemnity/insurance and carry on to the next stage of the renewal process).
Further information
The main defence organisations have provided information on their websites about the new
declaration. To check your status, we advise you go to their websites.
What do you need to do?
You need to declare that you have indemnity cover in place next time that you renew your
registration.
For dental care professionals (DCPs), the declaration will need to be made during this annual
renewal period, which starts next week and runs until July. You will receive your annual renewal
notification shortly.
For dentists, annual renewal takes place between November and December.
Hopefully this has clarified what you need to do. If you still have any questions, please refer to the
FAQs on our website.
Best wishes
Gurvinder Soomal
Director of Registration