Strike action suspended during talks with the Welsh Government
The strike action which was due to take place between 16 – 18 April was suspended to enable us to enter negotiations on a pay deal to resolve the current pay dispute.
The decision came following a constructive meeting with the first minister of Wales, Vaughan Gething and the cabinet secretary for health, Eluned Morgan. During this meeting, all three groups of secondary care doctors were invited to enter negotiations to resolve their separate pay disputes.
The first minister has pledged new funding towards these negotiations. We have been assured that this funding is a significant investment that will form a strong basis for productive pay discussions.
Dr Stephen Kelly, chair of BMA Cymru Wales’ Consultants committee said:
“The Welsh Government’s recent efforts to reach an end to the pay dispute are encouraging and so we have called off our planned strike for now whilst we allow time and space for negotiations to take place.
“We’re hopeful that we can reach a deal that sufficiently addresses years of erosion to our pay to help retain senior doctors in Wales but remain ready to strike if we’re not able to do so during negotiations.”
Where we are currently
In February 2023, the Welsh Government committed to the principle of full pay restoration to 2008 levels. However, during our recent pay negotiations the first and final offer made was to uplift our pay by just 5%. This was the worst offer in the UK and below the recommendation of the pay review body for doctors and dentists (DDRB). It is once again a sub-inflationary uplift for consultants in Wales.
We cannot allow our pay to continue to erode. We rejected this offer and, with no other offer on the table, we had no option but to ballot members for industrial action.
The ballot closed on 4 March with members voting in favour of taking industrial action and a 48-hour strike called commencing on 16 April 2024.
As a result of sustained pressure from three rounds of junior doctor strike action and looming action from senior doctors, the chairs of the Welsh consultant committee, Welsh SAS committee and the co-chairs of the Welsh junior doctors committee met the first minister of Wales, Vaughan Gething and the cabinet secretary for health, Eluned Morgan. During this meeting, all three groups of secondary care doctors were invited to enter negotiations to resolve their separate pay disputes.
The first minister has pledged new funding towards these negotiations. We were assured that this funding is a significant investment that will form a strong basis for productive pay discussions.
We have now formally agreed to enter negotiations with the Welsh Government. To allow time and space for negotiations to take place, we made the decision to suspend the 48-hour strike action which was planned to take place between 7am Tuesday 16 April and 7am Thursday 18 April.
We retain a mandate to call for strike action if negotiations are stalling. It is vital that you should remain ready to take strike action if necessary.
Ballot results
Consultants in Wales have voted in favour of taking industrial action over pay.
Turnout:
- Number of individuals who were entitled to vote in the ballot: 2006
- Number of votes cast in the ballot: 1395
- Votes cast in the ballot as a % of individuals who were entitled to vote: 69.54%
- Number of spoilt or otherwise invalid voting papers returned: 2
Result of voting
- Yes: 1192 (85.57%)
- No: 201 (14.43%)
Why we need full pay restoration
Since 2008/09, our basic pay has experienced a real terms (RPI) pay cut of 30.3%, although for those receiving commitment awards (which have been frozen since 2018) the real terms pay cut will be greater.
In 2022/23, despite the Welsh Government providing an additional uplift and making a commitment to the principle of full pay restoration , our pay still continued to erode in real terms. Once again in this pay year (2023/24) the offer to us was a sub-inflationary 5% – an uplift which will only increase our pay erosion.
We know that because of the real terms decline in our pay, more of us are retiring early, moving overseas or reducing our hours. It’s also making the role of a consultant less and less appealing to prospective consultants. As a result, we continue to see large gaps appearing in the consultant workforce and more pressure on those who remain. With the number of patients waiting to start treatment in Wales nearly three times higher than it was in 2009*, we need to take a stand now to prevent the further devaluing of our profession and to ensure a strong consultant workforce in the Welsh NHS. That’s why we’ve called for a ballot of consultant members in Wales.
*Number of patients waiting to start treatment in October 31 2009 was 224,717. Number of patients waiting to start treatment in August 2023 was 760,285. Data from StatsWales on Patient pathways waiting to start treatment by month.
Data source
How have we reached this point?
As shown in the below graph and table, due to sub-inflationary pay uplifts, over the last 15 years our pay has steadily eroded to the point where we have now experienced a 30.3% real-terms pay cut.
Pay negotiations with Welsh Government
We wrote to the Minister for health and social services making it clear that we had lost faith in the DDRB process, in a large part due to the sub-inflationary pay recommendations made by the pay review body. This letter notified her of our decision to withdraw from providing evidence to the DDRB.
We joined additional last-minute pay talks alongside other health unions, where the Welsh Government offered to increase the 2022/23 pay uplift from 4.5% to 6% and provide a one-off payment of 1.5%. These talks were to avert further strike action from other health unions. At that point, the BMA was not in a trade dispute with Welsh Government. As part of this, the Welsh Government also committed to the principle of full pay restoration to 2008 levels.
Although this pay award did not go anywhere near restoring consultant pay, we made the decision to vote to accept this offer. We did so because we were nearing the end of the 2022/23 pay year and because the Minister agreed as part of the offer to enter immediately into pay talks for 2023/24. We did not feel this would stymie our campaign for consultant pay restoration going forward and felt members could benefit from receiving additional pay in the 2022/23 pay year.
We were invited to attend pay talks for the 2023/24 pay year.
We made internal preparations to enter pay negotiations with the Welsh Government.
Alongside colleagues from the other secondary care branches of practice, we entered pay talks with the Welsh Government. Government officials attended but with no pay envelope in which to negotiate, noting that a cabinet meeting was still required to consider this. We used the opportunity to outline the importance of providing a fair pay offer to doctors and of restoring pay to 2008/09 levels.
Pay talks resumed. The Welsh Government provided an opening and final offer of 5% for consultants. This is the worst pay offer for consultants in the UK and is below even the DDRB recommendation for 2023/24. Our negotiation team withdrew from talks on the basis that no credible pay offer was on the table.
The BMA’s Welsh consultants committee (WCC) held an extraordinary meeting to consider the pay offer and unanimously decided to ballot members on taking industrial action.
BMA’s UK Council considered and approved the WCC application to ballot for industrial action.
We wrote to the Welsh Government confirming BMA UK Council approval for balloting and making clear our willingness to come back to the negotiation table if a credible pay offer was made.
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