Resident doctors in England today began receiving their ballots for renewed industrial action after the Government failed to make an offer which would move them towards pay restoration.
The ballot will close on 7 July 2025.
If returned with a “yes” vote, a mandate for industrial action would last from July 2025 to January 2026.
Co-chairs of the resident doctors committee (RDC), Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, said:
“Last week the Government finally told us what it would do to restore the pay of doctors: almost nothing. Doctors have seen their pay decline by 23% in real terms since 2008. No doctor today is worth less than they were then, but at the rate the government is offering it would be over a decade before we once again reached that level of pay.
“As ballots once again fall through doctors’ letterboxes, we are simply saying: the NHS does not have that time. Waiting lists are too high, too many people can’t see their GP, too many patients are being treated in corridors. Doctors need to be kept in the country and in their career not in ten or twenty years’ time, but now.
“We are urging doctors to vote yes to strike action. By voting yes they will be telling the Government there is no alternative to fixing pay – this cannot wait for different fiscal circumstances and a healthier NHS. The answer is to fix it today.
“While doctors continue to return these ballots however, our door is always open. Wes Streeting has made clear he knows the value of dialogue over division. Instead of repeating the mistakes of his predecessors, he can come to us with a solution now. Even if doctors vote for industrial action, with the right approach not a single picket line need ever form.”
Notes to editors
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.