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A contractual, employment or civil dispute with a dental professional

Sometimes workplace disputes can involve a dental professional. These can include:

  • contractual arrangements
  • termination of employment
  • working hours and pay
  • sickness and holiday absence
  • allegations of workplace bullying, unfair treatment and discrimination

Where to get help

We encourage you to use your employer’s procedures to resolve these kinds of issues. If you can’t resolve the issue with your employer, you can contact the following organisations:

Our role

We recognise that these disputes can sometimes also raise concerns about whether a dental professional has followed the GDC’s Standards for the Dental Team.

Before you bring an employment-related matter to our attention please note that we do not:

  • resolve disputes, award compensation
  • tell an employer to change their policies and decisions, or to apologise for their actions
  • resolve employment concerns even if they relate to a fitness to practise case
  • provide legal, clinical or employment advice.

What we do

We only investigate cases where our initial assessment raises questions about a dental professional’s fitness to practise. This initial assessment considers:

  • the risk of harm being caused to patients or members of the public
  • the risk of damage to the public’s confidence in dental services.

If such risks do not exist, we may close the case without taking action. If such risks do exist, we will investigate to see how serious they are and if we should take further action. You can find out more about how we investigate concerns about a registrant on our Fitness to Practise webpage.