Junior doctors have voted to accept a government pay deal worth a rise of 22.3% on average over two years.
In a post on X, the British Medical Association (BMA) wrote: “Junior doctors in England, thank you for voting in the referendum and making your voices heard.
“The votes are tallied and 65.97% of you voted to ACCEPT the Government’s offer.
“Your committee met this evening to ratify the result. We’ll be in touch soon about what happens next.”
45,830 junior doctors in England took part in the online referendum between 19 August and 15 September, with a turnout of 69%.
The BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said: “It should never have taken so long to get here… one strike was one strike too many.
“This deal marks the end of 15 years of pay erosion with the beginning of two years of modest above inflation pay rises. There is still a long way to go.”
The pay award amounts to 22.3% on average and consists of two parts:
• an additional average 4.05% for the pay year 2023/24 on top of the previously awarded average 8.8%, taking last year’s pay uplift to an average of 13.2% – this will be backdated to April 2023
• the remainder comes from the recommended pay award for 2024/25, giving junior doctors an average 8% increase across grades
But the BMA argues that – even after the increase – doctors’ pay remains 20.8% behind in real terms compared to a doctor in 2008.
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