What is a UDA in dentistry? Units of dental activity explained
A UDA is the unit every NHS dental contract in England is counted in. Here is what it means, how many each course of treatment earns, what changed in 2026 and why the number matters to your practice.
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What is a UDA in dentistry? A UDA, or unit of dental activity, is the unit an NHS general dental contract in England is measured in. Each NHS course of treatment earns a set number of UDAs depending on its band, and a practice's contract pays it a fixed sum each year for delivering an agreed number of them. A band 1 check-up earns one UDA. A band 3 course, such as a crown or dentures, earns twelve.
That one sentence explains most of how NHS dentistry in England is paid. The rest of this guide covers the detail an owner or practice manager actually needs: how many UDAs each band earns now, what a UDA is worth to your practice, what changed from April 2026, and what happens if you deliver too few or too many.
What does UDA stand for?
UDA stands for unit of dental activity. NHS England defines it as the expression of the amount of contracted activity a practice provides under its General Dental Services (GDS) contract or Personal Dental Services (PDS) agreement, as set out in Schedule 2 to the contract regulations. You will see the definition at the start of NHS England's quality and payment reforms contractual guidance, published on 26 March 2026 and last updated on 29 July 2026.
The UDA meaning is specific to NHS dentistry. Orthodontic work under the NHS is counted in a parallel unit, the unit of orthodontic activity, or UOA.
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How many UDAs does each band earn?
The NHS Business Services Authority, which processes every NHS dental claim, lists the UDAs per course of treatment in its guide to how courses of treatment are awarded in England. Band 2 has been split into three sub-bands for courses accepted on or after 25 November 2022.
| Course of treatment | UDAs | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | 1 | Examination, assessment and advice, X-rays, scale and polish where clinically needed |
| Band 2a | 3 | Band 2 treatment that is not 2b or 2c, for example one or two fillings |
| Band 2b | 5 | Non-molar root canal treatment on permanent teeth, or three or more teeth needing fillings, extractions, preformed crowns or fissure sealants |
| Band 2c | 7 | Molar root canal treatment on permanent teeth |
| Band 3 | 12 | Crowns, bridges, dentures and other laboratory work |
| Urgent course | Varies | Converted from a cash credit at your own UDA value since April 2026 |
Two newer items are worth knowing. From 1 April 2026, a standalone fluoride varnish application for a child, given by a dental nurse under a prescription, is credited at 0.5 UDAs under the National Health Service (Primary Dental Services and Dental Charges) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. From 23 June 2026, a denture repair earns 2 UDAs instead of 1, according to NHS England's contractual guidance.
How many UDAs is a filling?
A course of treatment with one or two fillings is usually band 2a, which earns 3 UDAs. If the course includes three or more teeth needing fillings, extractions, preformed crowns or fissure sealants, it becomes band 2b and earns 5 UDAs. The UDAs attach to the course of treatment, not to each filling, so a single filling and two fillings in the same course earn the same.
What is a UDA worth?
A UDA has no fixed national price. Each contract has its own value, which NHS England calls the monetary value of a UDA: the relevant contract value divided by the number of UDAs it must deliver in a year, leaving out UDAs for sedation and domiciliary services. The relevant contract value is the annual contract value without any orthodontic, sedation, domiciliary or dental public health payments. Two practices doing identical work can be paid different amounts for every UDA.
The differences are not small. Practice Radar's study of NHS dental contract values in England found that contracts a mile apart are paid a median £3.15 per UDA apart, and one pair in three £5 or more. If you want to know your own figure, take your annual contract value less any orthodontic, sedation, domiciliary or public health elements, and divide it by your contracted UDAs. Both numbers are on your contract and in Compass, the NHS Business Services Authority's contract management system.
The patient does not see any of this. An NHS patient in England pays the same band charge wherever they are treated: from 1 April 2026, £27.90 for band 1, £76.60 for band 2 and £332.10 for band 3, as listed on the NHS website. The band charge goes towards the contract value. It is not added on top.
What changed from April 2026
The NHS dental contract in England changed from 1 April 2026, after the Department of Health and Social Care published its response to its consultation on quality and payment reforms on 16 December 2025. The government describes the changes as a move away from some features of the UDA payment model, which it says dental teams told it is a barrier to delivering NHS care. UDAs remain the unit of measurement. What changed is how some care is credited.
Urgent care is now paid in cash and converted to UDAs
An urgent course of treatment used to earn 1.2 UDAs. Now, contracts of 100 UDAs or more must provide a required number of urgent courses each year, set at 8.2% of their relevant contract value, which NHS England expresses as 11 urgent courses for every £10,000. Each urgent course within that number earns a £60 activity credit, each one above it £75, and the practice also gets a £15 fixed credit for each required course. The credits are converted into UDAs at the contract's own UDA value, rounded up to two decimal places.
NHS England's own example uses a UDA value of £35: a £60 credit divided by £35 is 1.72 UDAs. The point to notice is that the cash is the same for everyone, so a contract with a lower UDA value receives more UDAs for each urgent course, and one with a higher value receives fewer.
Complex care pathways
From 23 June 2026, dentists can treat eligible patients aged 16 and over with significant decay or unstable gum disease on one of three complex care pathways, lasting 6 or 12 months. Each has a set value in the Statement of Financial Entitlements: £293.40, £732.47 and £256.21. These are also converted into UDAs and credited in instalments as the practice submits declarations, with the full value paid only when the pathway is completed.
Other credits
All fissure sealants became band 2 treatment from April 2026. Practices that sign up to the new quality improvement programme receive £3,400 a year for completing it, again converted to UDAs at the contract's value. The contractual guidance sets out each change in full.
How many UDAs per day?
There is no official number of UDAs a dentist should deliver per day. It depends on the mix of treatment, the patients on the books, the hours in the diary and how much of the contract the practice has allocated to each clinician. The useful version of the question is about your own contract: divide your annual UDA target by the clinical days you have available in the year, and you get the daily pace the contract needs. Then compare it with what your clinicians are actually delivering, week by week.
Associates are usually paid per UDA under their own agreement with the practice, so the daily figure matters to them too. What an associate is paid per UDA is a private arrangement and is not the same as the contract's UDA value.
What happens at year end
The NHS year runs from April to March. At year end, delivery is reconciled against the contract. NHS England's Policy book for primary dental services sets out the rules:
- 96% to 100% delivered: no money is recovered if the shortfall is delivered early in the next year (the policy book says within the first 60 days), and no breach notice for under-delivery can be issued.
- Below 96%: the commissioner recovers the money for the undelivered activity and may issue a breach notice.
- Below 96% for three years in a row: commissioners should seek to reduce the contract permanently, by agreement if possible.
- Over 100%: extra activity is not paid for unless the commissioner has agreed in advance to fund delivery of up to 110% of contracted activity.
Since April 2026, contracts with an urgent care requirement are also checked separately on urgent courses. Delivering fewer than 96% of the required number means the activity payments for the missing courses are recovered and a breach notice may be issued, even if the contract as a whole is above 96%.
Are UDAs used outside England?
No. UDAs are an England system now. Wales introduced a new General Dental Services contract from 1 April 2026 that, in the Welsh Government's words, replaces the units of dental activity model with one built around prevention and need. Scotland pays NHS dentists from a list of item-of-service fees, reformed in November 2023, and Northern Ireland has its own arrangements.
Why a UDA matters beyond the contract
For a practice owner, the UDA is the price of every NHS course of treatment you deliver. Your UDA value decides what the NHS side of the practice earns, your UDA pace decides whether you keep that money at year end, and the gap between the two decides how much room you have for private work.
It also shapes what you need from new patients. A practice behind on UDAs needs NHS patients through the door, and a practice ahead needs private demand. Either way, most new patients now start with a search. If you are reviewing where your new patients come from, the guide to getting more dental patients covers the channels that work for UK practices.
Common questions about UDAs
What is the meaning of UDA in an NHS contract?
It is the unit the contract counts activity in. Your contract says how many UDAs you must deliver in a year and what you are paid for them. Every completed NHS course of treatment you claim adds its UDAs to your running total.
Is a UDA the same as a band?
No. The band sets the patient charge and the UDAs set what the practice is credited. Band 2 has one patient charge but three UDA values, depending on whether the course is 2a, 2b or 2c.
Who sets the number of UDAs in a contract?
The number is agreed in the contract with the commissioner, which in England has been the integrated care board for your area since NHS England delegated dental commissioning in April 2023. It can change by agreement, through a variation known as rebasing, or after persistent under-delivery.
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