Resident doctors vote to strike in long-running pay dispute

Doctors resident in England have once again voted in favor of Strike Action, in the last chapter of a longtime salary dispute.

Doctors, previously known as junior doctors, received a wage increase of 5.4% for this financial year, following an increase of 22% in the previous two years.

But the British Medical Association (BMA) claims that wages are still around 20% lower in real terms in 2008 and require the “wage restoration”.

A government spokesperson said salary negotiations would not be reopened: “We cannot be more generous than we have already done.”

The BMA said that 55% of its 48,000 resident members voted in the ballot with 90% supporting industrial action.

The union has not yet set strike dates. The co -chairs of the Syndicate Junior Physician Committee, Ross Nieuwoudt and Melissa Ryan, said they would ask for new talks with the government and that there was still time to avoid a break -up.

“Our salary may have decreased, but our desire to fight remains strong,” they said in a joint statement. “Everything we need is a credible remuneration offer and no one needs a strike.”

The union now has a mandate for possible industrial action for six months, until January 2026.

The government said it was “disappointing” that the BMA continued to threaten industrial action after doctors received a salary increase of 28.9% in the past three years.

“We are not going to reopen negotiations on remuneration,” said a Downing Street spokesperson.

“Resident doctors have received the most salary award in the public sector for two years in a row and we cannot be more generous than we have already done this year.”

A participation rate of 55% in the ballot means, even with just over 90% of those who vote in favor, less than half of the eligible doctors have really supported the action of strike, added the government.

The basic salaries of doctors resident in England vary depending on the experience, ranging from £ £ £ 77,000 per year for a week of 40 hours, with additional payments for nuts and working weekends.

This does not include the latest average compensation price of 5.4% for this year which will start to be paid in salary packets from August.

Resident doctors participated in 11 separate strikes in 2023 and 2024, which led to the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of ambulatory meetings and other hospital procedures.

Matthew Taylor, director general of the NHS Confederation, which represents the service providers of the NHS, said that a strike could compromise attempts to reduce the waiting lists in England.

“It is disappointing that, despite the end of the end of resident doctors, a priority after its entry into office, the government is now back where it was a year ago,” he said.

“There is also the risk that these strikes strengthen tensions within different staff groups, nurses and other staff members also discussing industrial action.”

The term resident doctor can cover anyone who has just gone from the school of medicine to those who are ten or more experience on the front line.

The BMA said that other higher executives groups, including consultants and specialized doctors, will soon be invited to wonder if they are ready to participate in industrial measures after offering a 4%salary increase.

And the Royal College of Nursing is currently consulting its 345,000 members in England, in Wales and Northern Ireland during this year’s remuneration offer after describing the price of 3.6% as “grotesque”.