Now that we’ve had formal approval, we can finally share the full details of the new contract package with you.  

This blog will set out a summary and you can read more on our webpage to help you to prepare to vote in an online referendum on the offer which will run from 24 November – 15 December. 

 We’ll be hosting a series of events at your workplace and online for you to attend and ask questions. 

The package consists of four elements:

– 4% additional investment in resident doctors on top of the 5.4% average pay uplift this year

– A reformed, bespoke resident doctor contract

– Study budget and leave reform

– Measures to tackle medical unemployment. 

The new contract has a reformed basic pay scale ranging from £40,000-£78,000 per year. There are pay points for F1s and F2s, followed by a ST1/CT1+ pay scale with five pay points and progression with every 2 years of service. This new, simpler scale front-loads and puts more of total pay into pensionable basic pay. This will boost pension earnings, improve early career pay, reduce the gender pay gap, and reduce variation of pay across specialties and rotations.  

If you work more than 40 hours on average a week then you will also get paid for those additional hours over 40 too. Any work done outside Monday to Friday 7am-7pm or on a bank holiday will be paid at 1.5 x the normal hourly rate ensuring your antisocial working is properly remunerated. 

Your pay will be calculated as an average across your personal rota slot for the relevant roster/rotation. You will be paid a consistent monthly amount accordingly but if, for example, you are assigned more nights than other colleagues on the rota you will earn more. Equally, this system ensures less than full time doctors get paid accurately for their actual rostered work rather than relying on crude pro-rata systems.  

Now, if you work any overtime on a shift or go to work during time off, then you will just be able to claim payment directly with no supervisor involvement or electronic proof required. If you do on-call work at home then you will be paid an availability rate for the hours you are available, with an ability to then directly claim payment for any work performed. Additional payment will be given for being available for and performing work in anti-social hours and if you work more than 75% of the shift then you will be paid as if you worked it all. 

This new payment system means that every minute of work done by any doctor is counted and valued, rising in a clear linear fashion as more is done and/or takes place out of hours. This is in stark contrast to the current banding systems that produces winners and losers through large rises or drops in pay if certain criteria are met, regardless of how much work is done. The result being big pay differences despite similar work being carried out.  These banding systems also don’t account for busy on-calls, overtime or missed breaks with current rota monitoring being plagued by issues. 

There will be specific pay premia for GP registrars when working in practice to replace their current 45% banding and for oral maxillo-facial surgeons to reflect their need to undertake both medical and dental foundation training and degrees. 

The new contract will also be a proper training contract. It introduces a new job planning system with your job plan setting out your typical hours of work, training objectives, educational and development time (EDT), and minimal staffing levels on shifts.  

The job plan and roster will be delivered 8 and 6 weeks in advance respectively by your employer, with fines for lateness. If you don’t get your EDT, you miss teaching or training, you are asked to cross-cover, or you have safety concerns then you will be able to report this via a new exception reporting system that avoids issues seen in England. New Guardians of Safe and Flexible Working will monitor overtime and exception reports and will be able to review job plans and levy fines.  

They will also convene resident doctor forums in your workplace which will then review workplace issues and spend fines money. 

If members vote for the new contract offer, its implementation will be staged from August 2026. Doctors already in a speciality training programme will be able to remain and increment on the 2002 contract (which will continue to receive annual uplifts) and then transfer to the new contract in future voluntarily.  

Any new doctors and most current doctors would earn more from this new contract, in addition to all the non-pay bonuses outlined. However, in our analysis, we recognise that a small number of doctors on certain rotas and rotations currently benefit a lot from the banding system. For example, you may get 50% banding but do a lot less than 48 hours work a week on average.   

At the point of that transfer, they will get pay protection to prevent any pay drop. Current ‘winners’ from banding can therefore wait until future rotations/rebanding occur, then lock in their current pay and transfer on to the new contract which will eventually overtake their protection as they progress. 

Rota monitoring will be replaced for everyone, and you will all be able to claim overtime payment, regardless of contract. We’ll be providing extensive materials and example comparisons and pay journeys to help you work through all this. If the deal is accepted, we’ll develop a pay calculator for accurate, personal comparisons. 

As part of our pay deal, we’ve also agreed recommendations with employers on our study budgets. In this package, we’ve moved to rapidly implement changes within the existing budget as soon as any deal is voted for. This will mean more flexible private study leave, a higher cap (£1000 per year with unlimited rollover) and reimbursement at point of payment. All relocation, study budget and excess travel caps will start to be uplifted by annual inflation. Following this, we’ll work on the rest of the review which will include centralising the whole study budget and paying for mandatory and approved courses out of this, rather than your individual pots which will solely be for discretionary study and work. 

Finally, the package includes a review of training bottlenecks with an ambition to increase training and local posts to relieve identified bottlenecks. This builds on the significant training post expansion recommended by HEIW for next year following our medical unemployment campaign. The package also features a new pathway for permanent local employment for those currently in Wales and facing a higher specialty bottleneck. This pathway will give job security from which to apply for training whilst allowing you to continue to develop your career and progress in pay.  

There will be plenty of time for you to read and consider the deal and ask your questions before any vote takes place. If you want to hear more or have any questions, we’d encourage you to go along to a contact talk at your workplace, attend our online event, speak to your local BMA representative or follow us on social media for more information. 

The contract referendum will take place from 24 November to 15 December. You must join the BMA by 9 December to have your say. 

Deiniol Jones is BMA Welsh resident doctors committee deputy chair (terms and conditions)