What Dental Practice Owners Should Watch Going Into 2027

The next few weeks could set your 2027 costs, all in the space of eight days.

• 28 October. The Budget.
• 3 November. The US midterms.
• 5 November. The Bank of England rate decision.

Interest rates and dental practice finance

Rates are one of the biggest things to watch if you are buying or refinancing a dental practice.

Base rate is currently 3.75%, and the Bank of England’s next decision comes on 5 November.

Government borrowing also seems to be rising, which could have an impact on the wider interest-rate environment and therefore on your financing if you’re running a practice.

That matters if you are:

• buying a dental practice;
• refinancing existing borrowing;
• purchasing a freehold;
• funding a new practice;
• taking out equipment finance.

Even a relatively small change in the rate you are offered can make a meaningful difference when you are borrowing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

So if you’re buying or refinancing, know where your rate is fixed before that week. Not after.

If refinancing is already a concern of yours, it may be worth looking at your position now rather than waiting until your existing deal is about to expire.

Capital Gains Tax if you’re selling a dental practice

If you’re selling, Capital Gains Tax is another obvious area to watch.

Is that going to change?

It may do, it may not.

There has been talk about Capital Gains Tax for a while, and if the Government needs to raise further money, it is an area practice owners considering a sale will naturally be looking at.

That does not mean rushing to sell because of Budget speculation.

But if you are already thinking about selling your dental practice, you should know what your current tax position looks like.

That means understanding what your practice is worth, what tax could potentially be due and what a change in the rules could mean for your eventual proceeds.

Once the Budget is announced, you can then respond to what has actually changed rather than trying to guess beforehand.

What happens in Washington is likely to affect you

The US midterms are on 3 November.

That might seem a long way from running a dental practice in the UK, but what happens in Washington is likely to affect you.

UK borrowing costs move with US bond markets.

A split Congress can mean more fights over spending and more volatility in financial markets.

That can feed through into government borrowing costs in the UK and, ultimately, into the wider lending environment.

You do not need to follow every movement in the bond market.

But if you are taking out a large loan to buy, refinance or invest in a dental practice, what happens in the wider financial system can affect the rate you end up paying.

Inflation isn’t done

Inflation isn’t done.

Energy, lab fees, materials. All creeping up.

And for most dental practices, those are not the only costs increasing.

You may also be seeing higher costs in areas such as:

• payroll;
• insurance;
• software;
• equipment;
• rent and service charges;
• associate costs;
• finance.

A practice can remain busy while its margins gradually get squeezed.

That is why it is worth looking carefully at your 2027 numbers now.

Look at what is happening to your lab bills, payroll, material costs, associate costs and debt repayments.

If those costs keep increasing, what does that do to your profit and cash flow?

And do your forecasts for 2027 actually reflect it?

Hiring gets stricter

Hiring also gets stricter.

From January, unfair dismissal protection is set to kick in after six months rather than two years.

For dental practice owners employing nurses, receptionists, managers and other members of staff, that makes the first six months of employment more important.

Your probation reviews matter now.

Make sure expectations are clear when somebody joins.

Make sure concerns are documented.

Make sure reviews actually happen.

And if there is a problem with somebody’s performance, deal with it early rather than letting it drift.

Busy practices can easily allow probation reviews to become a box-ticking exercise or forget about them altogether.

That becomes more difficult once the qualifying period shortens.

There may be opportunities too

Not everything coming out of the Budget necessarily has to be negative.

The Government is trying to encourage young people to join the workforce, so there may be incentives for nursing staff, apprenticeships and that type of thing.

If you’re practising, that could be helpful.

Dental practices have faced recruitment challenges for years, particularly around dental nursing, so any new support for apprenticeships, younger workers or training will be worth looking at carefully.

We will need to see what is actually announced on 28 October.

None of this is a crisis

None of this is a crisis.

But there are a lot of things happening within a very short period.

If you own a dental practice, I would want to know:

• when your current borrowing is fixed until;
• what happens when that fixed period ends;
• whether you’re likely to refinance in 2027;
• whether you’re thinking about selling;
• what rising costs are doing to your margins;
• whether your 2027 budget reflects those costs;
• whether probation reviews are being managed properly.

You may decide that nothing needs to change.

But at least you will know where you stand.

• The Budget comes out on 28 October.
• The US midterms follow on 3 November.
• Then the Bank of England meets on 5 November.

If you’re buying or refinancing, know where your rate is fixed before that week.

Not after.