The BMA’s junior doctors committee will put a new Government offer to members which would increase pay by 22.3% over two years.
Today, the union confirmed that following negotiations the new offer includes a backdated pay rise of 4.05% for 2023/24, which is on top of the existing increase of between 8.8% and 10.3%.
For the current financial year, junior doctors will receive an average 8% increase via the pay review body’s recommendation of 6% as well as a consolidated payment of £1,000. Overall, the pay offer equates to a 22.3% pay rise across 2023/24 and 2024/25.
If accepted by members at a referendum, this would bring an end to junior doctor industrial action in England, which first began in March last year.
The deal also includes commitments from the Government to support better working conditions for doctors, such as a better way to report when they have worked additional hours to ensure they are paid.
According to the BMA, the Government has said it ‘acknowledges concerns raised by the BMA and other parties that the medical profession is not as attractive a career prospect as it once was’.
However, this figure is below the 35% pay rise that the BMA has consistently called for.
The pay offer follows negotiations between the BMA junior doctors committee and the new health secretary Wes Streeting, which began in his first week in the role.
In a statement on the state of public finances today in the House of Commons, chancellor Rachel Reeves highlighted the high cost to the taxpayer of industrial action across the NHS.
She said: ‘That is why I am pleased to announce today that the Government has agreed an offer to the junior doctors which the BMA has recommended to their members. My right honourable friend, the health secretary will set out further details.’
She also paid ‘tribute’ to health secretary Wes Streeting’s ‘leadership’ on junior doctor pay negotiations.
The BMA’s junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said they think the Government offer ‘merits consideration’ by members.
They added: ‘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 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 committee has recommended that members vote for the deal, saying it is ‘the best offer available at this moment in time’.
