The BMA has announced that it will put a pay offer to junior doctors in England after negotiations with the new Government. If accepted by members, the total pay uplift across the two years of the dispute will be 22.3% on average.
The pay offer consists of an additional 4.05% for the pay year 2023/24 on top of the average 8.8% previously awarded, taking last year’s pay uplift to an average of 13.2%. This will be backdated to April 2023.
Separately, the recommendation of the pay review body – the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB) - and subsequent Government award for 2024/25, would give junior doctors an average 8% increase across junior doctor grades.
Included in the deal are commitments from the Government to work with the BMA to streamline the way in which junior doctors report when they have worked additional hours to ensure they are paid for the work they do, and to reform the current system of junior doctor training and rotational placements, taking into account training bottlenecks. The BMA and DHSC have also agreed to change the name of “junior doctors” to “resident doctors” from September of this year to better reflect their expertise.
As part of the deal the Government says 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” and asks the DDRB to consider in its annual recommendations the overall reward package and career progression for junior doctors “to ensure that medicine is an attractive and rewarding career choice to deliver our consultants and GPs of the future”.
The BMA’s junior doctors committee (JDC) has chosen to recommend that members accept it.
