Junior doctors offered 22% rise in bid to settle dispute
The government has offered junior doctors a pay uplift worth around 20 per cent over two years to end their long-running industrial action.
The British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee is set to recommend the offer to members who will vote on whether to accept and end their dispute.
The deal is worth a 22.3 per cent cash terms pay increase over two years. This includes a pay backdated pay uplift, averaging 4.05 per cent, for 2023-24, on top of the existing uplifts from last year that were worth between 8.1 per cent and 10.3 per cent. This takes the uplift to an average of 13.2 per cent.
The government will also uplift each part of the pay scale for 2024-25 by 6 per cent, plus a £1,000 on a consolidated basis, effective from 1 April 2024.
If the deal is accepted, ”the BMA will [also] withdraw the rate card” for junior doctors “with immediate effect”, the government said in a ministerial statement last night. The “rate card” has been used to push up rates for out-of-hours shifts.
If the deal is rejected by members, then it’s likely industrial action will resume. The junior doctors’ current strike mandate is due to expire in September, days before the Labour party’s annual conference in Liverpool. The first strike was in March last year (see calendar below).
The junior doctors committee have been asking for what they call “full pay restoration” back to its value in 2009, which they equated to a 35 per cent rise.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the government has accepted the independent pay review body’s recommendations during a statement before the House of Commons this afternoon.
She also confirmed the government will asked the doctors’ and dentists’ review body to consider the overall reward package and career progression as part of 2025-26 recommendations.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: “I am delighted that we have agreed an offer that finally paves the way to ending industrial action which has caused untold misery to patients and staff.
“Everyone agrees we can’t have more disruption, more cancelled appointments, which is why my priority from day one has been to end this dispute.
“This has been a tough negotiation, but we have worked rapidly to reach a fair offer. I have been honest about the terrible economic inheritance left for this government, while the junior doctors’ committee has been clear that nothing less than the offer on the table will bring these strikes to an end.”
Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “The last 20 months have shown what happens when a government refuses to engage with the reality of real-terms pay cuts.
“That has to stop now. This deal is a start: it means we can begin to restore our value and return to a strong workforce and high quality patient care.
“There is still a way to go but this Government has shown it can learn from mistakes of the past. We recommend members vote yes.”
A letter to leaders asked systems to make a “best estimate” of the knock-on effects across urgent and emergency care, electives and discharge, and community and mental health.
A non-statutory ballot of GP partners held by the BMA’s GP committee on taking collective action over the 2024-25 GP contract term closes today.
Updated at 2.50pm to correct last year’s junior doctor pay uplift, which was 8.1-10.3 per cent, rather than 8.8-10.3 per cent.
Updated at 5.37pm following announcements from the British Medical Association and the Department of Health and Social Care; and at 10.50am on 30 June to add detail that the BMA would withdraw its junior doctors “rate card” if the deal is agreed to.