GDC publishes Annual Report and Accounts for 2025
The General Dental Council (GDC) has today published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2025. For the first time, the report includes a new 'at a glance' section, making it easier for readers to quickly understand the organisation's key achievements, priorities and performance over the past year.
Dr Helen Phillips, Chair of the GDC, said:
“Transparency is an essential ingredient of good governance. Our Annual Report and Accounts provide clarity on what we achieved in 2025 and the judgements we made to ensure good financial management while also delivering our commitments."
In 2025, the GDC set about building the foundations for its new strategy, Trusted and effective: A strategy for dental regulation 2026-2028. The strategy was approved by Council in October and published in November.
Tom Whiting, Chief Executive of the GDC, said:
“Our engagement with dental professionals over the past year has proved hugely important. This engagement has undeniably helped us to shape our new strategy. The time spent listening and understanding the issues was invaluable.
"We want to regulate modern dentistry, be more agile to understand and respond to changes in how dentistry is delivered, so that dental professionals can practise safely using modern and innovative digital technology."
In 2025, the GDC received 1,766 fitness to practise concerns, a 26% increase on 2024, and invested significantly in strengthening its fitness to practise processes, including expanding its legal and hearings teams to help cases be heard more quickly. The 'initial inquiries' process was also extended and now handles around 20% of cases received. As a result, the time taken to complete the initial assessment stage for these cases has reduced from 30 weeks to 16 weeks.
The GDC published revised Standards for Education, updated its Scope of Practice guidance, and approved 15 new education programmes in 2025, including two for new dental schools at the University of Portsmouth and the University of East Anglia.
The GDC continued to engage widely with dental professionals, education providers, governments, professional bodies and patients throughout 2025, attending over 375 stakeholder meetings and completing nine visits to dental settings across the UK. Now in its seventh year, the GDC's outreach programme delivered 51 online and in-person student and new registrant sessions, reaching over 3,850 people.
In early 2025, the GDC introduced priority Overseas Registration Examination (ORE) booking for candidates with refugee status, and in November 2025 introduced a new policy allowing alternative forms of evidence for refugee and displaced dental professionals.
In November 2025, following a procurement process, the GDC announced new arrangements for delivering the ORE, confirming UCL Consultants Ltd as the preferred bidder. The new contract is expected to more than double the number of dentists joining the register via the ORE route, with examinations under the new arrangements due to begin in Q3 2026.
The register grew to 131,680 dental professionals by 31 December 2025, a 4.7% increase on the previous year, comprising 47,916 dentists (up 3.4%) and 83,764 dental care professionals (up 5.5%).
Among other highlights, the GDC's customer service team answered 95% of the 59,912 calls it received in 2025, up from 87% of 92,623 calls the previous year, with 84% of 2025 calls answered within 20 seconds, compared with 63% in 2024.
The full report is available to download here