BMA Scotland is planning to ballot its resident doctor members on strike action after the Scottish Government U-turned on a crucial commitment on pay, it has announced today.

Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, agreed to an offer in 2023 in which the Scottish Government pledged to make “credible progress” on the path towards pay restoration for each of the following three financial years.

However, following months of negotiations, this year the Scottish Government offered an uplift to resident doctors which would have been the lowest uplift of all resident doctors in the UK, and less than was recommended by the independent pay review body, the DDRB.

As the Scottish Government has broken the multi-year agreement, the BMA’s Scottish Resident Doctor Committee has now voted to enter into formal industrial dispute with plans to ballot members later this year for strike action to protect that deal.

Dr Chris Smith, chair of the BMA’s Scottish Resident Doctor Committee (SRDC), said:

“In our pay negotiations this year, the Government has shamefully reneged on the deal we agreed in 2023, and we therefore have been left with no choice but to move forward with plans to ballot members for strike action in order to protect that deal.

“This agreement was the only thing that prevented strike action by resident doctors in Scotland in 2023 and we remain the UK’s only resident doctors not to have gone on strike since it was agreed.

“But that will be forced to change if our agreed deal is ignored. By going back on the deal, the Scottish Government have knowingly and severely increased the likelihood of us choosing the path of industrial action and the disruption to the NHS that will cause.

“To be absolutely clear, on our side, we want a negotiated settlement, as we have achieved each of the past two years.

“There is time to avert this action, but we must see a real improvement on what the Scottish Government is prepared to offer, which is currently the lowest uplift of all resident doctors in the UK for 25/26.

"The offer this year is likely to be less even than RPI inflation, which means that it would have constituted a real terms pay cut – we are already 17% worse off than our peers were in 2008 and this would have made that worse.

“It is completely unacceptable and it is clear that this is a far cry from the credible progress on the path to pay restoration that we were promised.”

Dr Smith said it was important for resident doctors to take a stand not only for the benefit of the profession but also for patients and ensuring the delivery of a sustainable NHS for generations to come.

He added: “As resident doctors we are the heart and are the future of the NHS medical workforce. But we risk losing many of us to other professions and countries if the Government does not value us properly, with disastrous consequences for a health service already on its knees.

“Years and years of being under-valued and under-appreciated previously led us to the point of balloting our members and it is extremely disappointing that we have been left in a position to do so again just two years later. The decision to ballot for strike action has not been taken lightly, but frankly we have been left with no other choice.

“We are not asking for more – we trusted the Scottish Government in accepting the pay deal and are simply asking that they now deliver that deal.

“To rebuild trust – and more importantly to avoid industrial action – we need to get back to the negotiating table where we could consider a serious offer with a chance of averting picket lines outside of hospitals.

“Everyone in Scotland needs a Government can that be trusted to stick to their word. Breaking their own commitments to resident doctors casts serious doubt on that.”

Notes to editors

The BMA’s Scottish Resident Doctor Committee will now request permission from the BMA’s UK Council to go ahead with ballot, in line with the BMA’s agreed internal process. Should that application be successful, decisions about the date of the ballot will then be confirmed.

The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives.