Why are doctors threatening strike action over a 4% pay rise?
Doctors are threatening strike action after getting a pay rise they claim does not go far enough to restore historical pay freezes.
Ministers announced doctors would receive a pay rise of 4 per cent - which is above the rate of inflation.
However, following the latest review of the public sector pay, other NHS workers will only receive a pay rise of 3.6 per cent - this includes nurses, healthcare assistants, midwives and physiotherapists.
It comes after inflation rose from 2.6 per cent in March to 3.5 per cent in April, which is the highest level since January 2024.
But ministers previously said they could only afford a rise of 2.8 per cent in 2025-26.
Why are doctors threatening to strike?
The British Medical Association (BMA) has said that although the pay rise is above inflation, it still 'failed to redress historic losses of pay' from the past 15 years.
It explained that average earnings growth sits at around 6 per cent and stressed that 'all public sector workers deserve better.'
Resident doctors will receive an extra £750 on top of the 4 per cent.
The chair of BMA council, Professor Philip Banfield said: 'Doctors' pay is still around a quarter less than it was in real-terms 16 years ago and today's 'award' delays pay restoration even more, without a government plan or reassurance to correct this erosion of what a doctor is worth.'
Professor Banfield has said Wes Streeting, the health secretary, must negotiate and start talking if he wants to head off an escalation in disputes and reverse the workforce crisis.
Why are other NHS staff disappointed?
It's not just doctors that are disappointed with the above inflation increase as Unison warns other NHS workers such as nurses, will feel less valued than their doctor colleagues with their 3.6 per cent pay rise.
'That will generate more discontent from an already demoralised workforce.
'So long as coffee shops, supermarkets and parcel delivery firms pay more than the NHS, staff will go on leaving,' Unison head of health Helga Pile said.
NHS staff who are members of the GMB union and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will be asked to vote on whether to accept the award.
RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger warned the pay award was 'entirely swallowed up by inflation and does nothing to change the status quo – where nursing is not valued, too few enter it and too many quit'.
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