Doctors have tense meeting with Wes Streeting and vote to go on strike again over pay

Doctors are being balloted to go on strike again over pay.

Junior doctors - now known as resident doctors - will now vote on whether they want to walk out after the Government delayed announcing a new pay deal for 2025/26. Their union, the British Medical Association, had demanded that Health Secretary Wes Streeting commit to restore real terms pay to the levels doctors had in 2009 before a decade of below-inflation deals from Tory governments.

It comes after the incoming government last year ended the worst ever period of strikes by negotiating pay deals, including with the BMA.

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In a statement, the co-chairs of the BMA's resident doctors' committee, Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, said: "Today we met with 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."

The Government is waiting on the recommendation of the doctors’ and dentists’ pay review body (DDRB) – which advises the government on salary rates for health professionals. This is still considering evidence and has missed the start of the new financial year last month. Any pay deal is likely to be backdated but the BMA has decided to ballot for strike action before being told what pay increase the review body recommends.

The union said three weeks had passed since it warned the Government of the "consequences of the absence of a reasonable, timely pay offer". Its ballot will open on May 27 and closes on July 7.

Resident doctor is the new term for junior doctor and refers to more than 50,000 qualified doctors working in GP practices and , from graduates to medics with a decade of experience.

The BMA claims basic pay for resident doctors has fallen by 22.3% in real terms since 2008/2009, based on the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation. The co-chairs’ statement continued: "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.

"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."

Last year junior doctors in England voted to accept the previous Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years. It ended the longest period of strikes in NHS history which saw tens of thousands of junior doctors undertake 11 walkouts. NHS England estimates the walkouts led to almost 1.5 million appointments being cancelled or rescheduled.

The last deal meant a doctor starting foundation training in the NHS saw base pay increase to £36,600, up from about £32,400. A full-time doctor entering specialty training had basic pay rise to £49,900 from about £43,900. But the BMA always insisted it was a step towards the end goal of “full pay restoration” to 2008/09 levels.

The Government also agreed that from that day junior doctors across the UK will be known as "resident doctors", to better reflect their expertise.