Junior doctors in England may have their long-running strike put to an end following a pay deal worth 22% on average over two years. The government and the British Medical Association (BMA) trade union have agreed on the offer, with the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee to present it to its members. The deal includes an additional 4% backdated pay rise for the previous financial year of 2023-24, added to the existing average of 9% pay increase. The pay deal has also recommended an 8% increase in pay for 2024-25.
The new pay deal will see junior doctors receive an average of 22% pay increase over two years, with the lowest-paid doctors receiving the highest pay increases. Despite campaigning for a 35% increase in pay, the junior doctors’ committee welcomed the offer. In a joint statement, the BMA junior doctors committee’s co-chairs, Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, described the deal as a “start” and stated that it changes the current pattern of pay trajectory.
The offer must now go to a full vote by the BMA’s 50,000 junior doctor members in England. If it is accepted, it will end the continuous strike action that has taken place since March 2023 and seen the postponement of hundreds of thousands of appointments. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the deal marks “the beginning of a new relationship” between the government and NHS staff. She also stated that industrial action in the NHS had cost taxpayers £1.7bn last year, adding that the recommendations of independent pay review bodies for the whole public sector will cost an extra £9bn this year.
Junior doctors across the UK have been campaigning for pay rises to make up for years of below inflation pay increases. Junior doctors in Wales have recently accepted an improved pay deal, while negotiations are ongoing in Northern Ireland, and no strike action is currently planned. Junior doctors in Scotland have not taken any industrial action after accepting a pay offer from the devolved government last year.
In the healthcare sector, the government has announced plans to review the building of 40 new hospitals in England by 2030, and proposals to cap social care costs by October 2025 have been rejected. The new pay deal marks a significant shift for junior doctors and could potentially restore a positive relationship with the NHS and the government
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