UK Makes Pay Offer to Junior Doctors in Bid to End Strikes
(Bloomberg) -- The UK government reached a deal with the British Medical Association to raise pay for junior doctors by as much as 24.6% over two years to end 15 months of strikes in Britain’s National Health Service.
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The agreement includes a backdated pay rise averaging 4.1% for 2023-4 on top of the existing increase of as much as 10% for that tax year, the Department of Health and Social Care said on Monday in an emailed statement. Doctors will be given a further pay rise of 6% plus £1,000 for 2024-5. The BMA recommended the offer to members, who must now vote on whether to accept it and draw a line under industrial action.
“This has been a tough negotiation, but we have worked rapidly to reach a fair offer,” Health Secretary Wes Streeting said in the statement. “It also represents an opportunity to truly reset relationships so we can begin working together to bring waiting lists down and fix the broken NHS.”
Industrial action blighted former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s tenure, hampering his promise to reduce NHS waiting lists — which instead rose under his watch. The Labour government will hope Streeting’s ability to reach agreement to end strikes in less than a month in office will limit a looming winter crisis in the health service, though the price tag for pay rises this year across the public sector reached £9 billion, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced Monday.
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