What is the LDC?

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The Lancashire & South Cumbria (LASC) Local Dental Committee (LDC) Is a body of locally elected general dental practitioners who work on behalf of dentists across Lancashire and South Cumbria. There is a summary of our work below, and much more information across the pages of this site. The committee is a federation of three Local Dental Committees, and was formed to mirror the NHS commissioning area of Lancashire & South Cumbria; it mirrors the area of the ICS - Healthier Lancashire & South Cumbria.

The three local committees are;

Central Lancashire LDC 

East Lancashire LDC 

Coastal LDC - Lancashire & South Cumbria

What is the Levy, and how much is it?

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The work of the committee is funded by a Statutory Levy. Due to the way the NHS’s Business Services Authority (BSA) needs to action levy collection it is necessary to deduct a levy uniformly across Lancashire and South Cumbria. The BDA have worked with LDCs and NHS England to set up these arrangements. The levy is statutory for Contract holders with a GDS contract (what happens with individual performers in each practice is down to Contract holders / providers’ in-house contractual arrangements).

The Statutory Levy is compulsory and not subject to an opt-out option

We try to keep the levy as low as possible; it is currently 0.13% of the contract value. This is a lower level than other LDCs in the northwest region, for example the average is 0.2% in Cheshire and Merseyside, and we strive to run our LDCs as efficiently as we can to keep your individual levy costs as low as possible.

What does the LDC do?

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The function of the Committee is to – 

(a) represent the interests of:  

(i) every dental practitioner/dental care professional who under a general dental services contract entered into by them is providing services in the area for which the committee is formed); and

(ii) every other dental practitioner who is performing primary dental services in the area for which the committee is formed for whom a levy is paid and

(iii) any wholly private dental practitioner for whom a levy is normally paid.

(b) promote and support the NHS interests of eligible practitioners and liaise with the Commissioning Board in respect of those interests. 

(c) these functions include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Providing individual support to eligible practitioners in issues regarding their NHS contract or NHS work

• Providing advice to the NHS Commissioning Board

• Helping eligible practitioners to seek compliance with regulatory requirements; this includes representing the profession in meetings with the GDC and CQC.

• General practitioner support and signposting.

• Participating in NHS England performance management programmes 

• Organising and supporting a Practitioner Advice and Support Scheme (DPASS)

• Providing relevant information, education, training and CPD to eligible practitioners and undertaking consultations

• Support dental charities which are of benefit to eligible practitioners

• Liaising with the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee and providing support for national negotiations and representation including attendance at BDA Regional Liaison Group.

• Supporting the Annual Conference of Local Dental Committees, Officials Day, and sending delegates to other national and local meetings of LDCs. 

Through the Levy, the LDC provides reimbursement for local Dentists who take time away from their practices and patients. This is at ‘British Dental Guild’ rates which are set by the BDA.

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Please have a look through the website to see the work we do, and get in touch with us if you have any questions.

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