Junior doctors in England vote to accept Government pay offer

Junior doctors in England have voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years, bringing their long-running dispute to an end.

The British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee (JDC) in England has accepted the Government’s pay offer, with 66% of junior doctors voting in favour of the deal, the BMA said.

Junior doctors in England have taken industrial action 11 times in the past 22 months, with their last strike just days before the general election.

Their last strike, which took place from June 27 to July 2, affected 61,989 appointments, procedures and operations, according to NHS England.

The deal will see junior doctors’ pay rise by between 3.71% and 5.05% – averaging 4.05% – on top of their existing pay award for 2023/24. This will be backdated to April 2023.

Each part of the pay scale will also be uplifted by 6%, plus £1,000, as recommended by the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB), with an effective date of April 1 2024.

Both rises mean a doctor starting foundation training in the NHS will see base pay increase to £36,600, up from about £32,400.

A full-time doctor entering specialty training will have basic pay rise to £49,900 from about £43,900.

Outside the pay negotiations, the Government has agreed that from September 18 “junior doctors” across the UK will be known as “resident doctors” to better reflect their expertise, the BMA said.

This follows a motion to the BMA’s annual policy making conference in 2023 when doctors voted in favour of a name change, it added.

A statement from the BMA said: “Junior doctors have been in dispute over more than a decade of real-terms pay cuts since October 2022, during which time they have taken 44 days of strike action.

“The pay uplift across these two years of the dispute will be 22.3% on average. This is made up of an additional average 4.05% for the pay year 2023/24 on top of the previously awarded average 8.8%, taking last year’s pay uplift to an average of 13.2% – this will be backdated to April 2023.

“The rest of the uplift comes from the recommended pay award for 2024/25 announced in July, which gave junior doctors an average 8% increase across grades. Doctors remain 20.8% behind in real terms compared to a doctor in 2008.

“The Government has also committed to work with the BMA to streamline the way in which junior doctors report additional hours they work, to ensure they are paid for the work they do.

“There is also agreement to reform the current system of rotational training for junior doctors as well as reviewing the training bottlenecks that previous Governments have imposed, which has manufactured the shortage of consultant and GP doctors.”

The junior doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said: “It should never have taken so long to get here, but we have shown what can be accomplished with our determination and with a government willing to simply sit down and talk realistically about a path to pay restoration. One strike was one strike too many.

“This deal marks the end of 15 years of pay erosion with the beginning of two years of modest above-inflation pay rises.

“There is still a long way to go, with doctors remaining 20.8% in real terms behind where we were in 2008. Mr Streeting has acknowledged our pay has fallen behind and has talked about a journey to pay restoration. He believes the independent pay review body is the right vehicle for this, and if he is right then no doctor need strike over pay in future. However, in the event the pay review body disappoints, he needs to be prepared for the consequences.

“The resident doctors committee, as we will be called, will be using the next months to prepare to build on their success so that future cohorts of doctors never again need to see the kind of pay cuts we have.

“We thank all doctors who have seen us through to this point by standing on picket lines and fighting for their worth. The campaign is not over, but we, and they, can be proud of how far we have come.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he is “pleased” the BMA has accepted the Government’s pay deal.

He said: “We inherited a broken NHS, the most devastating dispute in the health service’s history, and negotiations hadn’t taken place with the previous ministers since March.

“Things should never have been allowed to get this bad. That’s why I made ending the strikes a priority, and we negotiated an end to them in just three weeks.

“I am pleased that our offer has been accepted, ending the strikes ahead of looming winter pressures on the NHS.

“This marks the necessary first step in our mission to cut waiting lists, reform the broken health service, and make it fit for the future.”

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said junior doctors voting to accept the Government pay deal provides “welcome certainty”.

She said: “After unprecedented periods of industrial action, this agreement is excellent news for patients, doctors and the wider NHS. It provides welcome certainty particularly as we head into what we know will be a very challenging winter.

“The NHS is nothing without junior doctors – they make up almost half of the medical workforce, working across a wide range of services every day to provide expert, compassionate care to patients.

“It is absolutely right that they feel valued and that we do everything within our power in the NHS to improve their working lives.

“We will continue to listen and act on the concerns of the medical workforce, and we will work closely with the Government and the BMA to implement the actions agreed as part of this deal.”

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said “health leaders will breathe a massive sigh of relief” to know the pay dispute has come to a resolution.

He said: “The last thing our members wanted was the threat of more strikes over what is expected to be a very difficult winter.

“Industrial action has had a huge impact on the NHS over the last two years, with more than 1.5 million appointments and operations being cancelled at an estimated cost to the health service of around £3 billion.

“While there is still a long way to go to address all the issues raised by resident doctors, including quality of work and education and their rotational system, we hope that discussions can move forward now pay has been agreed.

“We look forward to working with the BMA, colleges, the General Medical Council (GMC) and NHS England to find resolutions to these and taking forward the non-pay parts of the agreement, including for example the changes to exception reporting.”