BMA secures strike doctors a rebate

Doctors in Northern Ireland who were docked up to 40 per cent of a week’s pay for taking one day of strike action should have received a rebate after a deal struck by the BMA.

Some resident doctors were penalised by £650 for missing one shift because of the method used to calculate their absence, which assumed – wrongly – that they work a regular 40-hour week.

This left doctors significantly out of pocket, unlike colleagues elsewhere in the UK where deductions were made on a fairer basis, BMA Northern Ireland said.

‘If resident doctors were being paid £650 per shift, I’m not sure they would be striking over pay,’ said Fiona Griffin (pictured above), chair of the Northern Ireland resident doctors committee. ‘Some were losing huge amounts of money that were not really representative of the work that was missed. And as it’s money that doctors cannot afford to lose, it would potentially have impacted our ability to take strike action in the future.’

The excessive pay deductions were imposed after the resident doctor strike in March last year. The BMA approached the Single Lead Employer (a Department of Health arms-length body that sits within the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency) to insist that it was unfair and wrong.

‘They told us it had been calculated on our hourly salary, multiplied by the number of hours that were missed for strike days. But they had calculated it based on the assumption that all doctors work a 40-hour week, which is absurd – and inflated the sum up to 40% in some cases. No aspect of our pay is based on an hourly figure, so why would deductions be?’

She cites one senior surgical registrar who was deducted £650 for one day’s work. ‘It meant that one shift he missed equated to around 40% of his entire week’s salary, but it wasn’t 40% of the hours in his week.’

By the same logic, she adds, if doctors had gone on strike for a full week they would have ended up owing the trust money.

Dr Griffin then raised the issue with the Northern Ireland health minister in July and he agreed to ‘pause’ deductions for the third set of strikes, which took place in June 2024, until the matter could be cleared up.

‘There was a lot of anger,’ she says. ‘Our members were saying to us, “if this is what our employers think we earn for one shift, do you think we’d be out of strike? This is outrageous”.’

The BMA’s argument was that there was no legal basis for making deductions in this way. They pointed to Wales, where resident doctors work under the same contract, and where deductions were made based on a fraction of a monthly salary, resulting in a much smaller hit to striking doctors’ pay packets.

After months of legal negotiations, BMA Northern Ireland and the Department of Health came to an agreement before the BMA’s challenge reached court.

This was that the employer would change the basis on which the deductions were calculated – essentially basing it on a working week of 48 or 56 hours depending on the doctor’s contract, and capping the amount they would take for one day at eight hours.

‘It’s almost identical to the situation in Wales and much fairer for doctors,’ said Dr Griffin.

Deductions for the June 2024 strike days – and any future strike action – will also be made on that basis, she added. Nevertheless, she is disturbed that the issue took 11 months, and the threat of court action, to solve.

‘The lack of will to resolve this in a timely manner impaired our ability to take strike action because of the amount of money they were deducting from doctors,’ she said. ‘But now if we do re-enter dispute, at least doctors now know where they would stand financially for missing one day of work for industrial action.’

Resident doctor Ciara Greer, who is in her third year of specialty training in internal medicine, and is based in Belfast, was astounded when she saw her pay slip last May.

Having missed an eight-hour shift to take part in strike action in March, there was £389 deducted from her pay. To put that in context, when she was later (and separately) reimbursed for three days of annual leave that she was unable to take (due to rota pressures) she received £530.

‘When I had to pay them, it was nearly £400 per day, but when they had to pay me back for something, it was £530 for three days – it doesn’t make sense,’ she said.

Having taken part in another two strike days in May, there was a further deduction of £650. ‘I worked out that if I’d missed four days’ work, I’d have lost 40% of my monthly salary,’ she said.

The thought of losing the money would not have put her off taking further strike action, she said, but colleagues with dependents and mortgages to pay might not have that luxury.

‘It’s absolutely bonkers, to not do four days of work and lose 40% of your monthly salary. I still would have gone on strike, to be honest, but this made me angry, and I think it proved the point that we were struggling to get respect from our employers, but going on strike might not have been affordable for many of my colleagues.

‘There seemed to be no reasonable rationale for their calculations and we had no idea how much money they would take. I think that was stressful for doctors, and I don’t think the employer was displeased with that.’

Although she welcomed the resolution, Dr Griffin deplored the delay in getting to that point. ‘The Department of Health say things like they value staff, and they want people who come to work here to stay here. But how can you feel like a valued staff member if someone will just deduct your wages, not in line with your contract?’