Junior doctors are already urged colleagues to reject a colossal deal that could see their earnings rise by 22 per cent over two years.
The British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee has reportedly agreed to put the offer to its members.
If accepted, it will end the months of paralysing NHS staff walkouts over pay.
But some medics are already calling for it for be rejected and, doubling down on the union’s original demand for a 35 per cent salary hike, urged for the continuation of devastating industrial action until ministers cave.
Some even labelled the 22.3 per cent offer as ‘abysmal’ and instead urged the BMA to ‘try again’ and for union members to ‘fight for what you are worth’.
The British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee has reportedly agreed to put the offer to its members. If accepted, it will end the months of paralysing walkouts over pay. But doubling down on the union’s original demand for a 35 per cent salary hike, some members today vowed to not stop until full pay restoration is achieved
The British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee has reportedly agreed to put the offer to its members. If accepted, it will end the months of paralysing walkouts over pay
Taking to X, one junior doctor, Dr Tim Ricketts wrote: ‘It’s important to remember the quoted 20 per cent figure includes the pay increase given to us by the Tories.
‘Without commitment to full pay restoration, I’ll be voting no to this offer.
‘Any deal that leaves an F1 [Foundation Year 1] being paid less than their assistant is unacceptable.’
Tropical disease medic Dr Eilidh Garrett also said: ‘A day 1 Physician Associate will still be earning substantially more than an F1.
‘Best deal for most junior doctors?
‘Try again. If inflation is 8 per cent for example next year we will have only just kept up with inflation and done nothing to correct the years of erosion.
‘I went on strike because I wanted full pay restoration, did you?’
A Physician Associate is an NHS worker who is meant only to assist doctors and nurses.
They do not go to medical school and instead do two years of post-graduate training on top of a degree in a subject like biomedical sciences.
They are not qualified to diagnose patients, prescribe drugs or order scans, and are meant to be supervised by a doctor.
Another medical student, Joshua Soane, meanwhile said: ‘This abysmal offer means that junior doctors will still earn > £8k a year less than their assistants.
‘The membership must not accept it – fight for what you are worth!’
Junior doctors in their first year now have a basic pay of £32,300, while those with three years’ experience make £43,900. The most senior earn £63,100
The pay offer is expected to be officially announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves this afternoon. However, is unclear at this stage, if the increase will be funded from existing NHS budgets or if hospitals will receive a funding boost to pay for the salary hikes
Under the proposed pay deal, junior doctors would see a rise of between 8.1 per cent and 10.3 per cent for the upcoming financial year as well as a backdated 4.05 per cent increase for 2023/24.
That is on top of an existing 6 per cent pay rise for 2024/2025, topped up by a £1,000 payment. This is equivalent to a pay rise of between 7 per cent and 9 per cent.
The overall package represents a pay rise of about 22.3 per cent, MailOnline understands. It is thought this could cost the taxpayer around £1billion.
If accepted, it could see the lowest paid medics earn around £38,000 in two years’ time — up from their current wage of just over £32,000.
For highest paid junior doctors, who currently take home just over £63,000, the deal could see their salaries rise to in excess of £75,000.
A 35 per cent rise, conversely, could see top earners receive a pay increase of £20,000.
The pay offer is expected to be officially announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves this afternoon.
However, is unclear at this stage, if the increase will be funded from existing NHS budgets or if hospitals will receive a funding boost to pay for the salary hikes.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister declined to confirm the reports only stating: ‘We’re committed to working to find a solution, resolving this dispute, but I can’t get into detailed running commentary on negotiations.
‘We’ve been honest with the public and the sector about the economic circumstances we face.
‘But the Government is determined to do the hard work necessary to finally bring these strikes to an end.’
They added: ‘The industrial action has been ‘hugely damaging both to patients and to the impact on the waiting lists and we’ve said we’re committed to finding a solution and resolving this dispute.’
The reported breakthrough in the talks comes less than a week after new Health Secretary Wes Streeting had his first meeting with BMA junior doctors’ committee.
It followed months of failed talks with ministers from a sequence of Conservative Governments.
If rejected, however, strike action could continue until at least September, when the junior doctors’ latest mandate is due to expire.
The BMA has long claimed its demands are for ‘pay restoration’ given that previous NHS salary rises for medics have not kept pace with inflation since 2008.
It comes as strike action taken by the group earlier this month saw 61,989 appointments, procedures and operations postponed, with 23,001 staff absent from work at the peak of the five-day action.
Pictured, co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee, Dr Vivek Trivedi (left) and Dr Rob Laurenson (right) arriving at the Department for Health and Social Care for a meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streeting last week
The reported breakthrough in the talks comes less than a week after new Health Secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) had his first meeting with BMA junior doctors’ committee
The latest walkout, just days before the general election, was the 11th strike by junior doctors in 20 months.
At the time, ministers in Rishi Sunak’s former government labelled the action a ‘highly cynical’ tactic.
Another senior Tory source went further by suggesting to MailOnline that there was ‘clearly collusion’ with Labour.
Some 1,486,258 appointments have been postponed since NHS industrial action — which has involved staff including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics — kicked-off in late 2022.
But not all NHS trusts have supplied figures on cancelled appointments, meaning the true scale of the disruption is expected to be higher.
Junior doctors in their first year currently have a basic pay of £32,400, while those with three years’ experience make £43,900. The most senior earn £63,100.
Tory Ministers previously offered junior doctors the 8.8 per cent pay rise, on average, for the 2023/24 financial year.
The uplift was higher for first year medics, who were given a 10.3 per cent boost.
Ministers insisted this was the final offer. But now-former health secretary Victoria Atkins offered medics an additional 3 per cent on top of this rise.
The union said at the time this improved sum was still ‘completely insufficient’.
It comes as the government is also expected to confirm a pay rise of 5.5 per cent for other NHS workers today, including nurses, after accepting the recommendations of the independent pay review body.
This pay rise covers around 1.3 million staff.
Doctors and dentists are believed to receive a pay rise of six per cent, and senior NHS managers will get an increase of five per cent.
GPs, however, have threatened to bring the NHS to a ‘standstill’, after balloting family doctors over industrial action.
The ballot, which closed today at midday, could see action start as early as this Thursday.
It is feared as many as 3million GP appointments a month could disappear if all family doctors kowtow to the BMA demands to slash numbers to just 25 a day.
