UK

BMA: Doctors’ 6% pay offer ‘missed opportunity’ to end strikes

Junior doctor members of the British Medical Association (BMA) on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital, London, at the start of a five-day strike amid the continuing dispute over pay, the longest walkout of its kind in the history of the NHS. Picture date: Thursday July 13, 2023.
Junior doctor members of the British Medical Association (BMA) on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital, London, at the start of a five-day strike amid the continuing dispute over pay, the longest walkout of its kind in the history of the NHS. Pictu Junior doctor members of the British Medical Association (BMA) on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital, London, at the start of a five-day strike amid the continuing dispute over pay, the longest walkout of its kind in the history of the NHS. Picture date: Thursday July 13, 2023.
By David Hughes, PA Political Editor

NHS doctors in England will continue with strike action despite Rishi Sunak saying a 6% pay deal was the “final offer”.

The Prime Minister, whose offer of a 6.5% deal for teachers looked set to end that industrial dispute, challenged other unions to “know when to say yes” after he accepted the recommendations of independent pay review bodies.

Junior doctors, who began their longest walkout yet in England on Thursday, will receive 6% rises, along with an additional consolidated £1,250 increase.

Hospital consultants, set to strike in England next week, will receive a 6% rise.

At a Downing Street press conference Mr Sunak called on the British Medical Association (BMA) to help “make the NHS strong again” and avoid further disruption.

POLITICS Pay
POLITICS Pay (PA Graphics)

“The Government has not only made today’s decision on pay.

“We’ve backed the NHS with record funding, delivered the first ever, fully funded long-term workforce plan and met the BMA’s number one ask of Government, with a pensions tax cut worth £1 billion.

“So, we should all ask ourselves, whether union leaders, or indeed political leaders, how can it be right to continue disruptive industrial action?

“Not least because these strikes lead to tens of thousands of appointments being cancelled, every single day and waiting lists going up, not down.”

But BMA chairman of council Professor Phil Banfield said: “This Government is driving doctors away from the NHS and this country; it needs to wake up and realise the true cost of keeping the expertise of doctors.

“Today, it missed a huge opportunity to put a credible proposal on the table to end strikes.

“This uplift still fails tens of thousands of frontline staff and is unlikely to do much to help retain a beleaguered, burnt out, undervalued workforce.”

Prof Banfield said consultants “remain willing to talk” but the offeer means “they are likely to continue to take industrial action”.

It was also “highly likely” that other kinds of doctors represented by the BMA, GPs and specialty doctors, “will consider their next steps”.

There had been speculation the Government could reject the various pay review bodies’ recommendations because ministers been anxious to avoid deals which could entrench high inflation.

The current level of CPI inflation is running at 8.7% and Mr Sunak, who has promised to cut it to around 5.3% by the end of the year, wants to avoid pay increases which could fuel a wage-price spiral.

In a direct message to the public sector unions, Mr Sunak said the pay on offer was as far as he would go.

“Today’s offer is final. There will be no more talks on pay.

“We will not negotiate again on this year’s settlements and no amount of strikes will change our decision.”

But with no new borrowing to fund deals, Mr Sunak said government departments will have to “reprioritise” spending – raising fears of cuts across public services.

The deals, based on the recommendations of the independent review bodies, include:

– A 7% rise for police officers.

– Prison officers in the operational bands will receive an increase of 7%, with larger rises for support grades and 5% for managers and governors.

– Most armed forces personnel will receive a 5% rise, plus an additional consolidated £1,000 increase, with 5.5% awards for the most senior officers.

– Senior civil servants will receive a 5.5% rise.

Striking teachers
Striking teachers The pay deal could end teachers’ strikes in England (James Manning/PA)

The 6.5% pay award for teachers will be “fully funded”, the Government said, with £525 million of additional money for schools in 2023-24 and a further £900 million in 2024-25.

The Government set out some changes to raise around £1 billion of additional money to fund the rises, including increasing the immigrant health surcharge to £1,035 and hiking the cost of some visas.

But the bulk of the money will have to come from “savings and efficiences” in existing budgets.

Mr Sunak said: “We are asking departments to reprioritise to support public sector workers and that will mean in other areas – it’s not about cuts, it’s just about focusing on public sector workers’ pay rather than other things.

“And I’m really pleased that the teaching unions specifically have said that this pay offer is properly funded.”

He insisted “no cuts will need to be made” in schools.

The Prime Minister and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan along with the leaders of the four education unions issued a joint statement setting out how the agreement could end strike action.

The statement said: “ASCL, NAHT, NASUWT and NEU will now put this deal to members, with a recommendation to accept the STRB (School Teachers’ Review Body) recommendation.

“This deal will allow teachers and school leaders to call off strike action and resume normal relations with government.”

But the Prospect union’s general secretary Mike Clancy said the Government was “taking a knife to public services to pay for these pay rises”, showing “they have learned nothing from the austerity years”.

“For a Prime Minister and Chancellor who came into office promising economic stability, the chaotic handling of this process will inspire little confidence in workers worried about their futures during the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation,” Mr Clancy said.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Rishi Sunak is taking a wrecking ball to our public services with these savage cuts.

“He must come clean about the devastating impact this will have on local hospitals and schools across the country.”

Police Federation national chairman Steve Hartshorn said the 7% rise was “a step in the right direction” but “we must not lose sight of the fact that this uplift still fails to take account of the real term cut of 17% officers have suffered since 2000”.