Resident doctors in England have announced dates for a ballot for renewed strikes and industrial action over pay.
The British Medical Association’s resident doctor committee said that, with three weeks having passed since it warned the government about the absence of a reasonable, timely pay offer, it has chosen to ballot its members for strike action.
The Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB), which advises the government on doctors’ pay each year, is late in publishing its 2025-26 recommendations. The government’s commitments to resolve pay disputes with the BMA included DDRB recommendations being published by the start of the financial year, which began on 6 April.
The strike ballot of resident doctors – formerly junior doctors – in England will open on 27 May and close on 7 July.
Co-chairs of committee, Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, said in a statement: “Today we met with [health secretary] Wes Streeting and made clear that all he would have to do to avoid the need for a ballot was pledge to negotiate a fair deal that moved us toward pay restoration by 2027, in line with existing BMA policy. Unfortunately, he could not make this commitment.
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“Resident doctors are not going to be ignored. We are going to stand up for our value to the NHS and to patients, and we are going to fight to stay on the path set out for us by last year’s deal: restoration of our pay to the level of 2008.”
The BMA formally accepted a 22.3% pay settlement last September, after 66% of junior doctors voted in favour of the deal. That ended a two-year dispute that saw 44 days of strike action, stemming from more than a decade of real-term pay cuts.
Ryan and Nieuwoudt continued: “No doctor today is worth less than they were 17 years ago, and that is precisely what doctors voting ‘yes’ to industrial action will be telling the government. We don’t want to be in the situation where we have to fight over and over again for our worth – we would rather get on with our careers and our work caring for our patients.
“But our successful action over previous years shows clearly that if that is what we must do, then doctors are more than prepared to do it. The government does not have to go through what its predecessor did. It can instead act responsibly and tell us that it will be putting us back on the path to full pay restoration. If they can commit to that, we never need to even see a picket line form.”
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “The government has taken welcome steps to accelerate pay review decision-making for annual pay awards and has acted more broadly to enhance employment and trade union rights across the economy. It is also developing a comprehensive plan for the NHS, its patients and people. At the same time, there are profound challenges for public sector finances and the economy.
“In this context, NHS organisations will be alarmed by the BMA’s preparations to ballot on the outcome of the DDRB process. Health leaders would urge all trade unions, including the BMA, to prioritise dialogue with the government rather than industrial action. Such dialogue would absolutely need to reflect the very real concerns of NHS workers, but also to understand, in particular, the longer-term opportunities as we all work together to improve the health of the nation.”
The Department for Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.
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