Who handles HR for dental practices? Beagle HR does, for practices across Surrey and the South East: associate agreements that stand up to employment status scrutiny, CQC-ready HR files, GDC registration problems, dental nurse recruitment and retention, absence in small clinical teams, and TUPE when a practice is bought or sold. Ad-hoc advice is £125/hr + VAT billed in 15-minute increments, with fixed-price projects and retainers available.
The problems that land on a practice manager’s desk
Dentistry has HR problems that a generalist adviser rarely sees twice. We see them every week.
Associate self-employment
HMRC and the courts are looking harder at the employment status of associates. We keep your agreements in line with what the scrutiny now demands.
GDC registration lapses
A nurse whose registration lapses cannot legally work that morning. We tell you what you can and cannot do before the first patient sits down.
CQC inspections
Inspectors ask for HR files, recruitment checks, DBS records, training logs and appraisals. Gaps become findings. Findings become follow-up.
Recruiting and keeping dental nurses
A national shortage means slow hiring and counter-offers from down the road. Your contracts and pay bands need to keep up, or people leave.
Small team, big absence impact
One person off sick in a team of eight can close a surgery for the day. Absence management matters more in dentistry than almost anywhere.
Buying or selling a practice
TUPE moves the whole team with the practice, on their existing terms. Getting it wrong follows you well past completion.
What we do for practices
Practical work with a clear price, delivered by consultants who know how a practice actually runs.
CQC-ready HR files
An audit of every staff file against what inspectors actually ask for. We fix the gaps and organise the evidence so inspection day holds no surprises.
Contracts for the whole team
Employment contracts for nurses, hygienists, therapists, reception and management, plus properly drafted associate agreements that stand up to a status challenge.
A practice-specific handbook
Policies written for clinical settings, including chaperoning, infection control responsibilities, social media and patient confidentiality. Not a generic template with your logo on it.
Day-to-day advice
A consultant who answers the phone when a staff issue flares up mid-clinic. £125/hr + VAT billed in 15-minute increments, or a monthly retainer if you would rather budget for it.
Guides written for dental teams
Plain answers to the questions practice owners and managers actually ask us. New guides added monthly.
Employed or self-employed? The associate question answered
What recent rulings mean for your associate agreements.
Read the guide ›What CQC actually checks in your HR files
The document list inspectors work through, item by item.
Read the guide ›When a GDC registration lapses: an hour-by-hour guide
What to do between 8am and the first patient.
Read the guide ›Hiring your first treatment coordinator
Job design, pay and a contract that fits the role.
Read the guide ›Sickness absence in a six-chair practice
Managing absence when one person off closes a surgery.
Read the guide ›Selling your practice: the TUPE timeline
Who you must inform, consult and transfer, and when.
Read the guide ›The Dental Practice HR Compliance Checklist
The 20 documents and records every practice should be able to produce on inspection day, in one printable checklist.
- Every item cross-referenced to what CQC inspectors request
- Covers contracts, DBS checks, GDC registration records, training logs and appraisals
- Used by practices across Surrey and the South East to prepare for inspection
Send me the checklist
How exposed is your practice?
Take the 3-minute HR Risk Score. Fifteen questions, an instant traffic-light result, and a clear view of where the gaps are.
Questions we hear a lot
Short answers here. Longer ones on a call, which costs you nothing.
We are based in Surrey and most of our clients are within an hour of us, but we work with practices across the South East and remotely. File audits, contracts and handbooks travel well. For anything that needs a site visit, we will tell you honestly whether the distance makes sense.
Yes. Employment status in dentistry is a specialism of ours. We review and draft associate agreements with current HMRC and tribunal thinking in mind, and we will tell you plainly where an arrangement looks exposed rather than papering over it.
Yes, the file audit is designed for exactly that. We go through every staff file against what inspectors ask for, close the gaps, and leave you with evidence organised so it can be produced on the day without a scramble.
Ad-hoc advice is £125/hr + VAT, billed in 15-minute increments so a ten-minute question costs a quarter of an hour, not a full one. Fixed-price projects (audits, contracts, handbooks) are quoted up front. Or take a monthly retainer sized to your practice, agreed before we start.
Talk to someone who knows dentistry
Fifteen minutes, no charge and no follow-up chase. Bring the staff issue that is bothering you and leave with a clear next step.
Book a free 15-minute call