Dental Core Training Pay 2026/27: What DCT1, DCT2 and DCT3 Earn

Last updated: 7 November 2026 · Figures verified against the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

What is dental core training?

Dental core training, usually called DCT, is hospital-based training undertaken after the foundation year, often for one to three years. Dental core trainees work in settings such as oral and maxillofacial surgery, restorative dentistry and paediatric dentistry, building experience before specialty training or a return to primary care. Posts are advertised nationally each year, and trainees apply for the year that matches their stage: CT1 for the first year, CT2 for the second, CT3 for the third. Not every trainee does all three years. Some do one year of DCT and then move on, some do two, and some complete the full three years before applying for specialty training.

The training exists because foundation dentistry, a year in an approved training practice, teaches general practice dentistry, while hospital dentistry is a different world. A dental core trainee sees patients with complex medical histories, works alongside surgeons and anaesthetists, and handles cases that would never present in a high-street practice. That experience is what specialty training programmes look for, which is why DCT is the standard stepping stone to dental specialty training, and why our NHS dentist salary guide treats it as one of the four main groups of employed dentists, alongside foundation dentists, salaried primary-care and community dentists, and dental specialty trainees.

One fact shapes everything else on this page. Dentists are outside Agenda for Change. Dental pay is recommended by the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration, the DDRB, which also covers doctors, and dental core trainees are paid on the 2016 contract nodal scale, the same scale that sets pay for resident doctors in England. Sharing the scale means dental core trainees and their medical counterparts at equivalent training stages are on identical basic pay, and it also means the pay rules that apply to resident doctors, the 40-hour basic week, the additional-hours rates and the pension tiers, apply to dental core trainees in the same way. Most high-street NHS dentists are self-employed contractors paid under the units of dental activity system, not salaried staff, and this page covers employed dentists in training only.

Dental core training pay 2026/27

The table below gives the basic salary for each year of dental core training in England in 2026/27, with the monthly gross pay and the plain and premium hourly rates alongside each one. The nodal point column shows where each year sits on the 2016 contract scale: CT1 at nodal point 3a, CT2 at nodal point 3b, and CT3 at nodal point 4a. The June 2026 nodal-point reform split the old nodal points 3, 4 and 5 into sub-points, so there are now ten nodal points where there were five, and the sub-points are what the table quotes.

Two features of the scale stand out. First, CT1 and CT2 pay the same basic salary of £55,355. Progression in basic pay under the 2016 contract happens at specific nodal points rather than every year, so the first uplift in basic pay comes on moving to CT3 at £67,325, a jump of £11,970 a year, or £997.50 a month. Second, these are basic salaries only. Like resident doctors, dental core trainees may receive additional payments for unsocial hours, on-call commitments or other allowances depending on their rota, which is why two trainees at the same year can take home different amounts. The hourly rates in the table are worked out as the basic salary divided by 40, the contracted basic week, and then divided by 52.143, and the premium rate is the plain rate multiplied by 1.37.

The figures are for England, and they are set through the DDRB award of 3.5% for 2026/27, announced on 25 March 2026 and effective from 1 April 2026, plus the effect of the June 2026 nodal-point reform. The award applies to dentists in training on the 2016 contract in the same way it applies to resident doctors, because both groups share the nodal scale. The 2026/27 pay rise guide sets out the award in full, and the doctor pay scales hub compares every medical scale from FY1 to consultant in one place.

Hourly rates and additional hours

The hourly rate is the figure that turns an annual salary into something a trainee can compare with a locum shift or a part-time post. In 2026/27 a CT1 or CT2 trainee on £55,355 earns £26.54 an hour at plain time and £36.36 an hour at the 37% premium rate, and a CT3 trainee on £67,325 earns £32.28 an hour plain and £44.22 an hour premium. Averaged over a 48-hour week, the CT1 rate is £22.12 an hour and the CT3 rate is £26.90 an hour, which is the figure to use when comparing dental core training pay with jobs quoted on a 48-hour week. Our junior doctor hourly pay guide sets out the same rates for the medical side of the scale.

Hours above the 40-hour basic week are additional rostered hours, and they follow the same 2016-contract rules as resident doctors. Hours in waking hours are paid at plain time, which is the basic hourly rate with nothing added. Hours between 9pm and 7am, and hours on a Sunday, are paid at plain time plus a 37% premium, which is the basic hourly rate multiplied by 1.37. There is no time-and-a-half rate anywhere in the 2016 contract for additional rostered hours, and no double-time rate either, which catches out trainees who assume the Agenda for Change overtime rules apply to them. The resident doctor additional hours guide works through the same rates with examples for every nodal point, and the unsocial hours and overtime guide sets out the Agenda for Change rules, which do not apply to dentists.

Two more payments can appear on a dental core trainee's payslip, and both are separate from the hourly rates above. The contract provides a weekend allowance, additional pay for doctors and dentists who work one in two weekends or more frequently, which is a frequency allowance rather than an hourly rate, so no hourly figure for it appears in the table. There is also an on-call availability allowance, payment for periods spent on-call whether or not you are called in. The exact terms for both are set out in the national terms and conditions and the annual pay circular, and your trust's payroll applies them according to your rota. When you compare DCT posts, ask for the rota's pay profile, not just the basic salary: the number of additional rostered hours, and how many of them fall in the premium window, is what turns the basic salary into the total pay for the post.

DCT pay against foundation dentistry

The step from foundation dentistry into dental core training is the biggest single pay rise in the early dental career. A foundation dentist earns £43,896 a year in 2026/27, on a 35-hour week, and a CT1 trainee earns £55,355 a year, on a 40-hour week. The difference is £11,459 a year, a rise of 26.10%, and monthly gross pay rises from £3,658.00 to £4,612.92, an increase of £954.92 a month. The hourly comparison is closer than the annual figures suggest, because the foundation week is five hours shorter: the foundation hourly rate is £24.05, worked out as £43,896 divided by 35 and then by 52.143, against the CT1 plain hourly rate of £26.54, a difference of £2.49 an hour.

Two details qualify the comparison. First, foundation dentists receive a training grant of £13,392, which is not part of salary, and dental core trainees do not receive it, so the cash difference between the two years is smaller than the salary difference alone suggests. Second, the foundation year is pensionable, paid via a lead-employer trust, and the pension tier changes on moving to DCT: a foundation dentist on £43,896 pays 9.8% of pensionable pay, which is £4,301.81 a year or £358.48 a month, while a CT1 trainee on £55,355 pays 10.7%, which is £5,922.99 a year or £493.58 a month, an increase of £135.10 a month in pension contributions. Student loan deductions rise too: on Plan 2, with a threshold of £29,385, a foundation dentist pays £1,305.99 a year or £108.83 a month, and a CT1 trainee pays £2,337.30 a year or £194.78 a month, an increase of £85.95 a month. Our NHS dentist salary guide sets out the foundation year in full, including the grant and the training-practice setting.

The comparison also runs the other way. A trainee who leaves DCT for a salaried primary-care post can earn less than a CT3 trainee: the entry point of salaried Band A is £54,502, which is £853 a year below the CT1 salary and £12,823 a year below the CT3 salary of £67,325. The top of Band A, £84,781, is £17,456 a year above CT3, so the salaried route overtakes DCT pay only part-way up Band A. Pay is not the only factor in the choice, and it is rarely the deciding one, but the figures are worth having before the decision is made, because the salaried route and the training route diverge sharply from this point on.

Worked examples: what the pay means in practice

Annual salaries are abstract until they are turned into pounds for a real rota. The examples below use 2026/27 England rates, and each one uses the rounded hourly rates from the table above, so every total can be checked by multiplying the table figures.

Example 1: CT1, 8 additional hours in a week. Plain hourly rate £26.54, premium rate £36.36. Eight additional hours in waking hours are worth 8 multiplied by £26.54, which is £212.32 for the week. The same eight hours at night, between 9pm and 7am, are worth 8 multiplied by £36.36, which is £290.88, a difference of £78.56 for the same eight hours. If those 8 extra hours were worked every week of the year in waking hours, they would be worth 20% of the £55,355 basic, which is £11,071.00 a year, or £922.58 a month. If they were all night hours, they would be worth £15,167.27 a year, or £1,263.94 a month.

Example 2: CT3, one extra 12-hour shift, 9pm to 9am. Plain hourly rate £32.28, premium rate £44.22. Ten hours fall inside the 9pm to 7am premium window and 2 hours, from 7am to 9am, fall outside it, so the shift is worth 10 multiplied by £44.22, which is £442.20, plus 2 multiplied by £32.28, which is £64.56, a total of £506.76. The same 12 hours in plain time would be worth 12 multiplied by £32.28, which is £387.36, so the premium adds £119.40 to the shift. A 12-hour additional shift that runs entirely inside the premium window, such as 9pm to 9am on a Sunday, would be worth 12 multiplied by £44.22, which is £530.64. The 7am finish is the detail to watch: the two plain hours at the end of a 9pm to 9am shift cost £23.88 against the all-premium figure.

Example 3: CT1, 4 additional night hours every week. Premium hourly rate £36.36. Four additional night hours a week are worth 4 multiplied by £36.36, which is £145.44 a week. Over a year that is 10% of the £55,355 basic multiplied by 1.37, which is £7,583.64 a year, or £631.97 a month, on top of the basic monthly pay of £4,612.92. The same four hours in waking hours would be worth £106.16 a week, £5,535.50 a year, or £461.29 a month. A permanently heavy rota with regular additional night hours is worth several thousand pounds a year even at CT1, which is why the rota's pay profile matters as much as the nodal point when comparing posts.

Example 4: CT1, a week of 48 hours. Basic pay for a 40-hour week is £1,061.60, worked out as £55,355 divided by 52.143. A 48-hour week, 40 basic hours plus 8 waking additional hours, is worth £1,061.60 plus £212.32, a total of £1,273.92 for the week. If the 8 additional hours were all at night, the week would be worth £1,061.60 plus £290.88, a total of £1,352.48. The same maths at CT3 gives a 40-hour week of £1,291.16, a 48-hour week with waking additional hours of £1,549.40, and a 48-hour week with night additional hours of £1,644.92.

Pension, student loan and take-home pay

Dental core trainees are members of the NHS Pension Scheme, and contributions are tiered by pensionable pay. In 2026/27 a CT1 or CT2 trainee on £55,355 pays 10.7% of pensionable pay, which is £5,922.99 a year or £493.58 a month, and a CT3 trainee on £67,325 also pays 10.7%, which is £7,203.78 a year or £600.31 a month, because the next tier, 12.5%, starts at £67,669. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £13,119.14 a year for a CT1 trainee and £15,956.03 a year for a CT3 trainee. Additional-hours pay is pensionable too, so a heavy rota raises both the contribution and the pension built up. The pension contributions guide sets out the tiers in full, and the pension calculator will project a pension from any salary.

Student loan deductions follow the same pattern as for any graduate. On Plan 2, with a 2026/27 threshold of £29,385, a CT1 trainee pays 9% of the £25,970 above the threshold, which is £2,337.30 a year or £194.78 a month, and a CT3 trainee pays 9% of the £37,940 above the threshold, which is £3,414.60 a year or £284.55 a month. The deduction is taken through payroll, so it appears on the payslip alongside tax and National Insurance, and it stops automatically when income falls below the threshold. The student loan repayments guide sets out every plan and threshold, and the student loan calculator will work out the deduction for any salary.

The table below shows what a dental core trainee keeps each month, worked out for England and Wales tax, Category A National Insurance, the 10.7% pension tier and, in the final column, a Plan 2 student loan. Pension contributions are deducted before income tax is calculated, National Insurance is calculated on gross pay, and the student loan is calculated on gross pay above the £29,385 threshold. A CT1 trainee on £55,355 pays £614.37 a month in income tax and £259.81 a month in National Insurance, and keeps £3,245.16 a month before any student loan, or £3,050.38 a month with a Plan 2 loan. A CT3 trainee on £67,325 pays £956.71 a month in income tax and £279.76 a month in National Insurance, and keeps £3,773.64 a month before any student loan, or £3,489.09 a month with a Plan 2 loan. The exact amount on a payslip may differ by a few pence because payroll systems round each component separately, and other deductions, such as a postgraduate loan or a salary-sacrifice scheme, change the result. The junior doctor take-home pay guide breaks down the same calculation month by month for medical trainees at the same nodal points, and the figures match, because the same salary on the same contract produces the same take-home pay.

A small tax point is worth knowing. Dentists are not named in HMRC's flat-rate expenses list, so the default rate of £60 a year applies to a uniformed dentist, worth £12 a year at basic rate and £24 a year at higher rate. Dental nurses, by contrast, are named in the list at £125 a year, worth £25 at basic rate and £50 at higher rate. No receipts are needed for the flat-rate claim, and it can be backdated up to four tax years. Our uniform tax rebate guide sets out the full list of flat rates and how to claim.

What comes after DCT

Dental specialty training is the most common next step, and its pay structure holds one surprise. Dental specialty training starts at nodal point 4a, which pays £67,325, exactly the same as DCT3, so moving from DCT3 into specialty training year 1 brings no rise in basic pay. The rises come later: ST2 and ST3 pay £67,998, ST4 pays £76,582, and ST5 to ST8 pay £77,348. Our dental specialty training pay guide sets out the ST1 to ST5 scale in full, including hourly rates, pension and worked take-home examples. Specialty training leads to specialist registration with the General Dental Council in fields such as orthodontics, oral surgery, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics and paediatric dentistry, and specialty trainees are employed by NHS trusts or boards on the same 2016 contract nodal scale. Dental specialty training starts at a higher nodal point than medical specialty training, which starts at nodal point 3a, because it reflects the years of training already completed in foundation and dental core training.

The other main route is salaried primary-care and community dentistry, where dentists work as employees of a trust or other NHS body rather than as contractors, including community dental services for patients with additional needs. In 2026/27, after a 3.75% award, salaried Band A runs from £54,502 to £84,781, Band B from £84,781 to £99,163, and Band C from £101,434 to £116,573. Band A has seven points, and point 7 is also the entry point to Band B, while point 13 serves as the entry point to Band C, so progression through the bands is tied to reaching gateway points rather than simply moving up one band at a time. A CT3 trainee moving to the entry point of Band A would take a pay cut of £12,823 a year, while a trainee moving to the top of Band A would gain £17,456 a year, so the salaried route is worth comparing point by point rather than band by band.

Some trainees return to general practice as associates, where pay is based on units of dental activity rather than a salary, and is not covered by the figures on this page. Most high-street NHS dentists work this way, as self-employed contractors or associates, and the employed routes described on this page are the minority of the profession. The choice between training, salaried posts and general practice is a career decision first and a pay decision second, but the pay figures are worth having before it is made, because the routes diverge sharply from this point on. Our NHS dentist salary guide sets out all four employed routes side by side, and the NHS consultant salary guide shows where the hospital route leads at the top of a dental specialty career.

How DCT pay changed from 2025/26

The 2026/27 figures are higher than 2025/26 by the DDRB award of 3.5%, announced on 25 March 2026 and effective from 1 April 2026, plus the effect of the June 2026 nodal-point reform. A CT1 or CT2 trainee earned £52,656 in 2025/26, at the old nodal points 3a and 3b, and earns £55,355 in 2026/27, a rise of £2,699 a year, or 5.13%. A CT3 trainee earned £65,048 in 2025/26 and earns £67,325 in 2026/27, a rise of £2,277 a year, or 3.50%. The CT1 and CT2 rise is larger than the award alone, because the June 2026 reform revalued the lower nodal points as well as splitting them into sub-points, while the CT3 rise matches the 3.5% award exactly. The 2026/27 pay rise guide sets out the award and the reform together.

In hourly terms, a CT1 trainee earned £25.25 for a plain additional hour in 2025/26, at the old basic of £52,656, and £34.59 for a premium hour, against £26.54 and £36.36 in 2026/27, a rise of £1.29 an hour plain and £1.77 an hour premium. A CT3 trainee earned £31.19 plain and £42.73 premium in 2025/26, against £32.28 and £44.22 in 2026/27. The June 2026 deal also included exam and royal-college membership fees reimbursed from April 2026, enhanced appraisal for locally employed doctors from October 2026, and clinical-academic flexible pay premia rising from £5,600 to £10,000 from April 2027, which sit alongside the pay award rather than inside it.

DCT against medical core training

Dental and medical core trainees are paid identically, because they sit on the same nodal scale. A medical CT1 or ST1 trainee earns £55,355 in 2026/27, exactly the same as a dental CT1 trainee, and a medical CT3 or ST3 trainee earns £67,325, exactly the same as a dental CT3 trainee. The hourly rates match too: £26.54 plain and £36.36 premium at nodal point 3, and £32.28 plain and £44.22 premium at nodal point 4a. GP registrars sit on the same scale as well: GPST1 and GPST2 earn £55,355 and GPST3 earns £67,325, before any supplement. The GP registrar salary guide sets out the GP training picture, including the supplement that sits on top of the nodal basic.

The two paths diverge after core training, not during it. Medical specialty training starts at nodal point 3a, £55,355, while dental specialty training starts at nodal point 4a, £67,325, because dental specialty training follows foundation plus dental core training, while medical specialty training can follow foundation directly. At the top of the scale the two paths converge again: medical ST7 and ST8 and dental ST5 to ST8 all earn £77,348. Trust-grade doctors, also called locally employed doctors, are employed on locally determined pay with mirrored nodal points from MT01 at £41,226 to MT10 at £77,348, and the June 2026 deal offered all of them 2016-contract terms, so the same hourly rates apply to the mirrored points. Our trust-grade doctor salary guide sets out the full MT01 to MT10 table, and our FY1 and FY2 doctor salary guide sets out the bottom of the shared scale.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The figures on this page are for England under the 2016 contract, and they should not be assumed to apply elsewhere. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own arrangements for resident doctor and dentist pay, and the verified data file this site works from holds the England nodal scale only, so no devolved DCT figures are quoted here. The June 2026 deal was an England deal, and the DDRB award of 3.5% for 2026/27 applies to England, with the devolved nations making their own awards. The nation guides are NHS Scotland pay, NHS Wales pay and NHS Northern Ireland pay, and staff in the devolved nations should check the local pay circular for the exact figures rather than budgeting on the England rates.

Frequently asked questions

What does dental core training pay in 2026/27?

In England in 2026/27, dental core training pays £55,355 a year in year 1 (CT1) and year 2 (CT2), and £67,325 a year in year 3 (CT3). That works out at £4,612.92 a month in CT1 and CT2, and £5,610.42 a month in CT3, before tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan deductions. The figures are basic pay on the 2016 contract nodal scale, the same scale used for resident doctors, and they apply to the 40-hour basic week. Additional payments for unsocial hours or on-call work sit on top of basic pay, so two trainees at the same year can take home different amounts.

Why do DCT1 and DCT2 pay the same?

Progression in basic pay under the 2016 contract happens at nodal points rather than every year. CT1 sits at nodal point 3a and CT2 sits at nodal point 3b, and both points carry the same 2026/27 basic salary of £55,355. The first uplift in basic pay comes on moving to CT3, which sits at nodal point 4a and pays £67,325. The same pattern runs through medical training: medical CT1 and CT2 also both pay £55,355, and medical ST3 also pays £67,325. The June 2026 nodal-point reform split the old nodal points 3, 4 and 5 into sub-points, which is why the scale now has ten points, but it did not change the fact that neighbouring sub-points can share a salary.

What is the hourly rate for a dental core trainee?

The hourly rate is the annual basic salary divided by 40, the contracted basic week, and then divided by 52.143. In 2026/27 a CT1 or CT2 trainee on £55,355 earns £26.54 an hour at plain time and £36.36 an hour at the 37% premium rate, and a CT3 trainee on £67,325 earns £32.28 an hour plain and £44.22 an hour premium. Averaged over a 48-hour week, the CT1 rate is £22.12 an hour and the CT3 rate is £26.90 an hour. Hours above the 40-hour basic week are paid at plain time in waking hours and at plain time plus 37% for hours between 9pm and 7am or on Sundays, exactly as for resident doctors on the same contract.

How much more does dental core training pay than foundation dentistry?

A foundation dentist earns £43,896 a year in 2026/27, on a 35-hour week, so moving into dental core training at CT1 lifts basic pay by £11,459 a year, a rise of 26.10%. Monthly gross pay rises from £3,658.00 to £4,612.92, an increase of £954.92 a month. The hourly comparison is closer than the annual figures suggest, because the foundation week is 35 hours and the DCT week is 40: the foundation hourly rate is £24.05 and the CT1 plain hourly rate is £26.54. Foundation dentists also receive a training grant of £13,392, which is not part of salary, and dental core trainees do not receive it. Our NHS dentist salary guide sets out the foundation year in full.

What happens after DCT3?

Dental specialty training starts at nodal point 4a, which pays £67,325, exactly the same as DCT3, so moving from DCT3 into specialty training year 1 (ST1) brings no rise in basic pay. The rises come later: ST2 and ST3 pay £67,998, ST4 pays £76,582, and ST5 to ST8 pay £77,348. Other routes after DCT include salaried primary-care and community dental posts, where Band A runs from £54,502 to £84,781, Band B from £84,781 to £99,163, and Band C from £101,434 to £116,573 in 2026/27. Some trainees return to general practice as associates, where pay is based on units of dental activity rather than a salary, and is not covered by the figures on this page. Our NHS dentist salary guide sets out the salaried bands and the specialty scale in full.

Do dental core trainees get unsocial-hours pay?

Yes. Dental core trainees are on the 2016 contract, so additional rostered hours above the 40-hour basic week are paid at plain time in waking hours and at plain time plus a 37% premium for hours between 9pm and 7am or on Sundays. At CT1 that is £26.54 an hour plain and £36.36 an hour premium, and at CT3 it is £32.28 plain and £44.22 premium. The contract also provides a weekend allowance for doctors and dentists who work one in two weekends or more frequently, which is a frequency allowance rather than an hourly rate, and an on-call availability allowance for periods spent on-call. How much unsocial-hours pay a trainee actually receives depends on the rota: a post with regular night and Sunday shifts pays materially more than a post with the same basic salary and a daytime-only rota. Our resident doctor additional hours guide works through the same rates with examples for every nodal point.

What pension do dental core trainees pay?

Dental core trainees are members of the NHS Pension Scheme, and contributions are tiered by pensionable pay. In 2026/27 a CT1 or CT2 trainee on £55,355 pays 10.7% of pensionable pay, which is £5,922.99 a year or £493.58 a month, and a CT3 trainee on £67,325 also pays 10.7%, which is £7,203.78 a year or £600.31 a month, because the next tier, 12.5%, starts at £67,669. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £13,119.14 a year for a CT1 trainee and £15,956.03 a year for a CT3 trainee. Additional-hours pay is pensionable too, so a heavy rota raises both the contribution and the pension built up. The pension contributions guide sets out the tiers in full, and the pension calculator will project a pension from any salary.

Is dental core training outside Agenda for Change?

Yes. Dentists are outside Agenda for Change, and so are doctors. Dental pay is recommended by the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration, the DDRB, which recommended the 3.5% award for 2026/27, announced on 25 March 2026 and effective from 1 April 2026. Dental core trainees are paid on the 2016 contract nodal scale, not on AfC bands, which is why this page quotes nodal points rather than bands. The dental team around them is paid differently: dental nurses, dental therapists, dental hygienists and dental technicians working in the NHS are employed on Agenda for Change bands. Our NHS dental nurse salary guide covers the AfC side of that picture, and our Agenda for Change explained page sets out the band system itself.

Sources and independence

Source: NHS Employers, 2026/27 pay award announcement.

Source: NHSBSA, Foundation dentist salary 2026/27.

NHS Bands Pay is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the NHS. Figures were verified against official sources on 7 November 2026 and can change, always confirm with the relevant official body before making financial decisions.