BMA junior doctors committee recommends members accept fresh pay offer

The BMA’s junior doctors committee has recommended that members in England accept the pay offer made by the new government in what they have called ‘a credible first step’ in restoring pay that ‘leaves no doctor behind’.

The new offer would result in an average pay uplift of 22.3 per cent over two years and bring pay for junior doctors in a better position versus inflation than it has been since the dispute began in October 2022.

It would see an additional average pay uplift for the 2023/24 year of 4.05 per cent, backdated to 1 April 2023, on top of the 8.8 per cent previously awarded taking last year’s pay uplift to an average of 13.2 per cent.

This would be in addition to an average 8 per cent pay uplift for 2024/25 after the Labour government accepted the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body (DDRB) recommendations, as announced by the chancellor today.

The new offer, made after talks with new health secretary Wes Streeting began last week, would include all junior doctors, including those in locally-employed posts on 2002 and 2016 contracts.

The government has also agreed to acknowledge in its remit letter to the DDRB for 2025/26 that ‘the medical profession is not as attractive a career prospect as it once was’ and to ask the DDRB to consider this to ‘ensure medicine is an attractive and rewarding career choice’ when making its pay recommendation.

Indexing flexible pay premia uplifts, in line with pay recommendations from the DDRB, will also be written into the junior doctor contract.

In addition to pay, reforms to exception reporting and training, and the Department of Health and Social Care changing the name from ‘junior’ to ‘resident’ doctors, have been agreed.

Supervisors would be removed from the exception reporting process, to enable and encourage doctors to exception report additional hours they work without suffering any detriment.

A review of the number and frequency of rotations will be carried out, seeking to minimise administrative and bureaucratic hurdles and disruption to junior doctors’ personal and professional lives. This plan would be subject to agreement from the BMA.

Training numbers would also be reviewed in the context of bottlenecks and the planned expansion of medical school places.

As a condition of the offer, the Government required the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee to recommend members accept it, and insisted on the withdrawal of the BMA rate card for junior doctors in England.

The offer will be put to members in a vote. The dates for that vote are yet to be confirmed.

If accepted, the offer would bring the dispute to an end. Since it began in October 2022, there have been 11 rounds of strike action including the largest ever walkout in NHS history. The last round of strike action took place in the week before the general election.

JDC co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: ‘We are announcing that almost two years into our dispute we have received an offer from the Government that our committee thinks merits consideration by our membership. It should never have taken so long to get here, but this offer shows what can be achieved when both parties enter negotiations in a constructive spirit.  

‘This offer does not go all the way to restoring the pay lost by junior doctors over the last decade and a half. However, we have always said that we did not expect to get there in one go. This offer, combined with the recommendation of the pay review body today, changes the current trajectory of our pay, even though there is further to go yet. 

‘We are recommending that members vote for the deal. We believe that this is the best offer available at this moment in time and that the inclusion of the additional reforms make the package a good step forward for our profession, acknowledging there is still more work to be done in the future. 

‘We recognise the speed and effort put into this round of negotiations which we believe shows the beginning of a Government that is learning to treat doctors with more respect. There is a catastrophic NHS workforce crisis that needs addressing and they at least appear to recognise that fixing pay must be part of the solution. 

‘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.” 

In a letter to members, the JDC said: ‘We acknowledge this offer does not constitute full pay restoration. The committee believes this is a credible first step in restoring your pay, but you have the power to decide.

‘If we accept this offer, it will add a cumulative 4.05 per cent to the DDRB recommendation for 2023/24, which would in turn be compounded by the DDRB recommendation for 2024/25. The resulting pay uplift would be a 22.3 per cent average increase over the two years. This offer, unlike the one made last winter, now includes all locally employed doctors and ensures all doctors experience a real-terms pay rise for 2023/24 and 2024/25. This offer leaves no doctor behind.’

‘While this marks a change in the trajectory of our pay, we recognise this offer would only be the first step towards achieving full pay restoration.’

Making her speech to MPs this afternoon, chancellor Rachel Reeves said: ‘The last government presided over the worst set of strikes in a generation. This caused chaos and misery for the British public and it wreaked havoc on the public finances.

‘Industrial action in the NHS alone cost the taxpayer £1.7 billion last year. That is why I’m pleased to announce today that the government has agreed an offer to the junior doctors, which the BMA are recommending to their members.’

Reeves praised new health secretary Wes Streeting for his ‘leadership’ in the negotiations, which she said has ‘paved the way to ending a dispute which has caused waiting lists to spiral, operations to be delayed and agony for patients to be prolonged.’

The chancellor added: ‘Today marks the start of a new relationship between the government and staff working in our national health service. And the whole country will welcome that.’