Around 150,000 NHS doctors will start to receive a pay rise this month after the government accepted the Independent Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration’s (DDRB) recommendations.
As part of the agreement, first-year doctors in training will receive a 10.3% pay increase and junior doctors will see an 8.8% rise, meaning basic pay for a first-year junior doctor will increase from £29,300 to £32,300. For a junior doctor in core training with three years of experience, pay will rise from £40,200 to £43,900.
Pay scales for consultants will also increase by 6%, resulting in a £93,600 starting basic full-time pay. Along with on-call payments, the average consultant’s NHS earnings will increase to £134,000 a year. This is in addition to a 4.5% pay rise last year and pension reforms that included a 50% increase to the annual allowance for tax-free pension saving to £60,000 and the removal of the £1 million lifetime cap.
Doctors in training, consultants, and Speciality and Associate Specialist doctors and dentists covered by the review body will receive their pay rise backdated to April. Some staff will also benefit from performance pay, overtime, pay progression and pay rises from promotions.
According to the government, it is funding this pay award through prioritisation within existing departmental budgets.
Steve Barclay, health and social care secretary, said: “I hugely value the work of NHS staff, and we’re giving junior doctors, consultants and senior NHS staff a fair pay rise as recommended by the independent pay review bodies, which is above what most in the public and private sectors are receiving. We have worked at speed to ensure they will start receiving this in their pay packets this month. I’ve been clear this pay award is final and I urge the British Medical Association (BMA) to end its strike action.”
The BMA announced last week that junior doctors and consultants in England will undertake four days of strike action this month in their campaign for full pay restoration.