Author: Chris O'Shea

Well, Jeremy Hunt has announced the UK Budget for 2023 and here are the main takeaways you need to be aware of:

• The main rate of corporation tax, paid by businesses on taxable profits over £250,000, confirmed to increase from 19% to 25%
• Companies able to deduct investment in new machinery and technology to lower their taxable profits
• Tax breaks and other benefits for 12 new Investment Zones across the UK, funded by £80m each over the next five years
• The cap on the amount workers can accumulate in pensions savings over their lifetime before having to pay extra tax – currently £1.07m – will be abolished
• The tax-free yearly allowance for pension pots is to rise from £40,000 to £60,000 – having been frozen for nine years
• Government subsidies limiting typical household energy bills to £2,500 a year will be extended for three months, until the end of June
• Energy charges for prepayment meters will be brought into line with prices for customers paying by direct debit
• Office for Budget Responsibility predicts the UK will avoid recession in 2023, but the economy will shrink by 0.2%
• Growth of 1.8% predicted for next year, with 2.5% in 2025 and 2.1% in 2026
• UK’s inflation rate predicted to fall to 2.9% by the end of this year, down from 10.7% in the last three months of 2022
• Underlying debt forecast to be 92.4% of GDP this year, rising to 93.7% in 2024

One of the more noteworthy points is the changes to capital allowances for SMEs. These changes will take over from the current 130% super deduction:

• From April 2023 until the end of March 2026, companies can claim 100% capital allowances on qualifying plant and machinery investments.
• Full expensing allows companies to write off the cost of investment in one go.
• Under full expensing, for every pound a company invests, their taxes are cut by up to 25p.

This budget is being referred to as the Back to Work Budget, and it’s easy to see why. The intention appears to be to encourage the UK to work more, work longer and to invest in their businesses. We’ll see how it plays out! 

In this quick update, Arun discusses the latest UK Budget announced today (23rd March 2022) by Rishi Sunak.

Most people don’t actually realise this, but you don’t have to go old-school or traditional with how your dental practice looks. Most dental practice owners, especially new ones, need to realise that traditional doesn’t necessarily mean successful anymore.

What do you want your dental practice to look like? What do you want your dental practice to feel like?

Most people stick with the plain, white, ‘surgical’ look that they have seen in dental offices their whole lives. Some prefer for their dental offices to look as professional as can be which to some people means, plain white walls and simple decor.

However, when the cost is marginally different, you can go with a whole different look. You can go differently with the type of design you pick depending on what you are trying to do. Are you trying to make more money? Are you stressed out because the current design is inefficient? Are you growing and booked out so far that you can’t see patients fast enough?

Sure, many dental offices look the same. That means you look exactly like them, it means you’re just another normal old dental practice ‘just like the rest’ in competition with one another. What worked 20 years ago, does not necessarily work today.

If you are trying to make your patients choose you instead of the dentist down the road, if you are trying to stand out in an industry that is already quite crowded, let your work speak for itself and design your practice differently!

What used to work is now seen as ‘mainstream’, sticking with what works isn’t a bad thing, but trying to switch things up may work a lot more in your favour in the long run. 

If you’re looking for a sign to redesign your practice without crisp white walls with the hospital blue accents, this is your sign!

Since your business is in the healthcare sector, you need to ensure that your dental office designers are all conscious of patient well-being throughout the entire design process.

Most people do not enjoy visiting the dentist, in fact it is often the most daunting idea for many people. So how do you slip out of this awful cliche? Maybe try something new with the design.

The planning and design of your practice must reflect intense attention to the little details that will help create a sense of comfort, trust and even style to your practice as well as offering patient privacy.

Lighting and ceiling design as well as colour selection and material finishes amongst many other design factors are all, in their own right, keys to achieving an inviting and appealing environment. 

Being different is good, but a good designer will be able to marry the idea of keeping the dental office classy and clean with hints of your ideas. Since dentistry has become increasingly competitive, dental professionals should ideally make their practices distinctly different from their competitors down the road. 

The main differences will lie in the services offered and the quality of them and how they are delivered; however, your dental practice needs to attract the clients to begin with. 

Is Dentistry as Diverse as You Think It Is?

Try to think about what your dentist looked like when you were younger, can you remember? Was your dentist a male? Was your dentist a person of colour? If I was a betting man, I definitely know what I’d bet your dentist looked like. 

Even though we are now in the 21st century and we have come a long way in our fight for equality and diversity in dentistry in particular and the wider workforce in general, this article will investigate whether that really is the case in the UK. 

Dentistry, like many other healthcare professions, has struggled with the historical legacy of being conceptualised as a profession dominated by white males. It is widely acknowledged that there are many social benefits to having a multicultural health force but dentistry is one healthcare field that even now, in the 21st century, is still lacking the diversity it needs to represent the population.

Now the question we all want to know is, has that changed now? In 2021, are we still stuck living in the stereotype that all our dentists will most probably primarily be white male?

A Diverse Dental Workforce

Ensuring a diverse dental workforce is absolutely critical to the success of the profession. When dentists are both male and females from all types of backgrounds, ethnicities and races, it makes the care the profession provides inclusive and better for both patients and staff.

Many people have been under the assumption that being in 2021, we were progressing and we’re heading towards a more diverse society promoting as many opportunities for all those from different backgrounds to succeed at any profession they may want to pursue in a fair way. What re-sparked tabloid interest in this specific subject matter and shed much needed light on the fact that we may not be progressing as much as we should be, is the Black Lives Matter protests. They reminded us all that as a society within the UK, unconscious bias and prejudices still exist throughout our workforce. So is this inequality portrayed within the world of dentistry? 

Many minority ethnic groups including black British dentists and dental care professionals are widely under-represented in the UK workforce. The cause for this itself is multifactorial which we won’t look into in great depth, the fact alone represents that dentistry in the UK is not as diverse as it may be perceived. 

So, What Does This Mean? 

The facts state that these groups are underrepresented within Dentistry, but that doesn’t mean that the industry itself is not progressing to be more diverse. 

Over the last ten years, the focus of the government has been to improve the social diversity of the medical and dental workforce. The data suggests that there is progress being made, while it may be minute, the progress is excelling. Statistics show that people of minority ethnic groups, females and all those from BAME backgrounds are slowly entering the healthcare workforce changing their representation statistics. 

Women in Dentistry 

In 1999 there were not many female dentists at all let alone any ethnic diversity to exist within the industry. The change over the last two decades has shown immense progression within the entire dental industry.

The age of women not being able to find quality jobs has come a very long way over the years. While employment has improved, the wage gap between men and women still very actively exists. The surge in women-owned businesses in 2018 has proven to be driven by a combination of both necessity and the increased opportunity available.

The increasing number of women pursuing careers in dentistry is shifting the demographic makeup of the dental workforce.  

While the number of women working in NHS dentistry is steadily rising, there may be a reason as to why we aren’t seeing an increase in the amount of female dental practice owners. This is because statistics show that only 45% of female dental associates intend to leave the NHS while 66% of their male counterparts do intend to leave the NHS and go into a private dental practice.

A similar trend is also portrayed with the statistics accumulated by those in the dental industry. These statistics show that the percentage of male dental associates who have aspirations of owning their own dental practice is double the number of females who have aspirations to own their own dental practice, which explains why many dental practice owners are male.

These statistics portray that maybe success in dentistry isn’t limited to gender, they simply have different aspirations and more female dental associates and practice owners are happier to work under the NHS than their male counterparts and those who are associates are less motivated to have any practice ownership aspirations. 

It is widely acknowledged that there are many social benefits to having a multicultural health force, including ensuring that there is less of a barrier around access for underrepresented BAME groups. Despite the growth over the last decade or so, certain healthcare professions, more specifically; dentistry, have struggled with changing their historical legacy of being conceptualised as a ‘white’ profession and the question or whether it is ethnically representative of the public it serves. 

It is important for dental practices to continue to diversify their teams and to remain inclusive and supportive at all times. As a dental practice owner it is your job to protect your patients and your staff through effective regulation. 

What is Your Dental Practice Responsible For?

To ensure that your practice should operate without prejudice or discrimination and should be both inclusive and supportive at all times. Staff members as well as patients should be treated fairly irrespective or any personal circumstances of background.

It is the overall responsibility of the dental care provider and manager to provide a welcoming, informative and supportive practice for both patients and employees. Every practice should operate without any prejudice or discrimination and should be inlcusive at all times. Everyone in the practice including both staff members and patients should be treated fairly irrespective of any circumstances or backgrounds.

Every employee and potential employee should have access to fair recruitment programs, the working conditions should be the same for everyone and all people should have equal employment opportunities. 

This means that all patients and all staff should be treated fairly and equally by the employer and registered manager of care. 

Going forward…

Diversity means being inclusive to all aspects of race, gender, disability or sexuality and we have to be open to the fact that although things are progressing, they could definitely be better. If we do not have a diverse leadership within the industry, we run a real risk of disengaging younger colleagues who will then feel like they do not fit. If you cannot see it, you can’t be it, if women aren’t women or those of ethnic minorities, will these aspiring dental practice owners even be able to believe that it is achievable? If they cannot see it, they will not believe it’s possible. 

The increasing number of women and many ethnic minorities pursuing careers in dentistry is shifting the demographic makeup of the dental workforce. It allows for many opportunities for growth and innovation within the industry consisting of varying backgrounds and perspectives. 

As a result of the recent Supreme Court announcement that small businesses can make a business interruption claim, this is good news for our Dental clients and other SME’s.

We have detailed the steps you need to consider when making a Business Interruption Claim.

But now the time has come that you need to file an insurance claim and you’re wondering, ‘how do I go about a business interruption insurance claim?’ Let’s look at the best tips that can help you during this process. 

1.Make a Plan 

A successful insurance claim takes preparation. It is best to plan ahead of time in case the worst does happen and you have to file an insurance claim. Preparation is key, this means keeping receipts, prior to anything happening, for all things that are insured and keeping your policy documents safe.

If you have insurance on valuable objects, it is a good idea to take photographs showing their condition. The more you are prepared, the easier your claim will be. 

2.Gather Evidence

Always document the damage! After your business experiences something unfortunate that requires an insurance claim, be sure to collect as much evidence as possible to pass on to the insurance company.

Make sure that you take photos and videos of everything, the more evidence the better. Your priority should be to ensure that you get an accurate idea of everything that has gone wrong. Having provisions in place such as installing surveillance equipment will allow you to record the damage.

Taking pictures after the fact is always as useful as before. ‘Before and after’ photographic or video evidence will help you a lot during your entire claim. Not only to show damage but to also compare with the repairs afterwards. You should also make a note of any people who were present to witness the event.  

3. Report and State the Facts

If you are claiming for something that has been stolen or vandalised, a report of the incident should be filed with the police first. There are often two main people you will need to report an incident to; the police if a crime has occurred on your business’s property, and your insurance company.

Remember, with most claims, the process is easier if you know the entire story factually with no missing details and you know as many specific details as possible. It is often best to write these details down such as: times and dates, exactly what happened, what you are claiming for and details of everyone involved (if anyone). 

4.The Importance of Accounting in a Business Interruption Insurance Claim

It is essential that you present your accounting information in a way that will be able to maximise the possibility of the best pay out for you. Hiring an accountant to help you properly file the documentation for your business insurance claim may be helpful to you. In many cases, an accountant can accurately help you evaluate the losses and highlight what the insurance company should cover, helping ease the process of the insurance claim. 

This is especially the case in respect of a Business Interruption claim and essential if you are serious about claiming what you are due.

Every claim is different, and quite often the level of the payout is down to how the financial impact has been documented by your accountants, therefore its essential an accountant understands your loss and then paints the full financial story of how your business has been impacted.

Samera will be able to help you if you need assistance with your insurance claim, contact us today or book a consultation to find out more.

One of the many questions we are asked by clients is ‘what are the best books for business owners?’.

Listed below is a selection by Arun Mehra, our CEO, which he has read and have helped him shape his thoughts and businesses. 

Awaken the Giant Within – Anthony Robbins

7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey

Good to Great – Jim Collins

Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill

Start with Why – Simon Sinek

The Infinite Game – Simon Sinek

The Lean Start Up – Eric Ries

Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman

The Art of War  – Sun Tzu

How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

Business Adventures – John Brooks

Blue Ocean Strategy – W Chan Kim, Renee Maurbogne

Purple Cow – Seth Godin