All junior doctors offered 22% pay rise over 2 years in bid to end NHS strike chaos
Meanwhile, troops, dentists, NHS consultants and teachers are expected to see pay packs rise by an inflation-busting 5.5 per cent
JUNIOR doctors will be offered a whopping 22.3% pay rise over the next two years in an astonishing bid to end NHS strikes.
Rachel Reeves confirmed the latest pay proposal from ministers this afternoon, alongside announcing salary hikes for troops, dentists and teachers.
Under a fresh deal struck between Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the British Medical Association, junior doctors would receive a backdated increase of 4.05 per cent for 2023-24, alongside an existing rise of between 8.1 per cent and 10.3 per cent.
They would then be able to cash in a further hike of 6 per cent for 2024-25, along with a consolidated £1,000 payment.
The total package would cost taxpayers around £1 billion.
It will be put to a ballot of BMA members, with an expectation but no cast-iron guarantee of passing.
The strike leaders have recommended their members vote yes to the deal.
We are recommending members vote for this deal as we believe it is the best offer available at this moment in time
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “Almost two years into our dispute we have received an offer from the Government that our committee thinks merits consideration by our membership.
“It should never have taken so long to get here, but this offer shows what can be achieved when both parties enter negotiations in a constructive spirit.
“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.
“We are recommending that members vote for the deal. We believe that this is the best offer available at this moment in time, acknowledging there is still more work to be done in the future.”
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Union bosses have been demanding a rise worth 35 per cent but admitted they did not expect to get it.
NHS industrial action since December 2022 has led to 1.5 million operations, procedures and appointments being postponed.
Strikes have cost the health service an eye-watering £3bn.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “I am delighted that we have agreed an offer that finally paves the way to ending industrial action which has caused untold misery to patients and staff.
“Everyone agrees we can’t have more disruption, more cancelled appointments, which is why my priority from day one has been to end this dispute.
“This has been a tough negotiation, but we have worked rapidly to reach a fair offer.
“I have been honest about the terrible economic inheritance left for this government, while the junior doctors’ committee has been clear that nothing less than the offer on the table will bring these strikes to an end.”
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents hospital bosses, said: “If junior doctors vote to accept the government’s offer, resolving the long-running dispute and ending strikes, it will be great news for patients who’ve suffered months of disruption to operations, scans and appointments.”
Pay rises across the public sector
Meanwhile, nurses are expected to see pay packs rise by an inflation-busting 5.5 per cent.
And senior doctors and dentists will get a 6 per cent uplift.
It comes as the Chancellor will today warn of “difficult choices” — as she prepares the nation for sweeping tax raids.
Ms Reeves will vow to “fix the foundations of our economy” and accuse ex-PM Rishi Sunak of “covering up” the dire state of public finances.
She will reveal the findings of a probe into Treasury coffers expected to show a £20billion black hole in the national purse.
And after naming a date for an Autumn Budget, Ms Reeves will pledge a fresh crackdown on public sector waste.
Mandarins are understood to be eyeing up a hike on inheritance and capital gains taxes this autumn to boost coffers.
PM Sir Keir Starmer has vowed VAT, income tax and national insurance will not go up in this parliament.
'THIS WAS ONLY EVER POLITICAL'
HEALTH Secretary Victoria Atkins said in May that the BMA's decision to strike in the last days of the general election campaign showed the walkouts were political.
The junior doctors’ committee is seen to be left wing and opposed to the Conservative Party – but claimed before the election that they would not go any easier on a Labour government.
When it announced the latest strike for July, the committee’s leaders said: “When we entered mediation we did so under the impression that we had a functioning government that would soon be making an offer.
“Clearly no offer is now forthcoming.”
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said the choice of dates was a “highly cynical tactic”.
She wrote on X: “Announcing this during an election and on Labour’s health day shows this was only ever political and not about patients or staff.”
After more than 18 months of unsuccessful negotiation with the Conservatives, the BMA now appears to have struck a deal within the first month of a Labour government.