There are not enough specialty training places for doctors in England today
After completing their first two years as a foundation doctor, residents go on to train in specialities – from neurology to surgery, paediatrics to emergency medicine.
This training can last from three to eight years, depending on the specialty. Resident doctors go through a competitive application process before they can start their specialty training programme. Some programmes require doctors to complete a two to three year core training programme before re-applying to higher specialty training.
However, poor workforce planning by successive governments means there aren’t enough specialty training places for them to go to, stunting their careers and depriving the NHS of the staff it needs to get down waiting lists.
We’ve seen how serious these bottlenecks are. This year, there were more than 30,000 doctors applying in round one of specialty training, competing for one of around 10,000 places.
That means we have resident doctors – both fresh out of foundation training and later in their careers - who have spent years studying and want to work in the NHS, unable to find a job.
Why we have brought the training places crisis into our pay dispute
Throughout our fight for pay restoration, we’ve been hearing more and more from resident doctors about job insecurity.
In a BMA survey, 4,401 doctors were asked whether they have substantive employment or regular locum work from August 2025.
Of the 1,062 FY2 doctors who responded, 52% said they did not. Overall, a third (34%) of the doctors who responded did not.
This is on top of many of resident doctors having to shoulder huge amounts of student debt, and the fact that they have seen their pay erode by 21% since 2008.
We’re now at a point where newly qualified resident doctors earn £18.62 per hour compared to first-year physician assistants who earn more than £24 per hour.
Commitments from the Government to address this haven’t gone far enough, so, alongside fighting to restore our pay, we have entered into an additional, linked dispute to demand a rapid expansion of specialty training places in England.
We also need to see UK medical graduates prioritised for those posts, all the while ensuring IMGs who are currently working in the UK are protected.
We will be balloting FY1s so we can be sure that the speciality training places crisis is firmly on the negotiating table, alongside pay.
Find out more about our pay restoration dispute.
Why we will only be balloting first-year foundation doctors
Our survey showed that foundation doctors about to embark on specialty training are the worst affected group for not being able to find work.
However, the Secretary of State has only committed to create an additional 1,000 training places within the next three years. This isn’t enough to address the magnitude of the crisis.
The BMA is, therefore, campaigning on behalf of newly qualified FY1s, who, in the coming years, will be most heavily impacted by the problem.
We are yet to announce when the ballot will be but keep an eye out for more information, as it will be opening soon.
How this ballot on specialty training places will affect our existing mandate on pay
Full pay restoration remains our central ask of Government, however, we know that members are struggling with both pay erosion and job insecurity. This additional, linked dispute means the wider concerns of our members can be addressed and that to resolve it the Government will need to negotiate with us not only pay, but also the real threat of unemployment.
What to do now
If you are an FY1 doctor, you need to make sure your home address and employer details are up to date. If they’re not, your vote in a ballot on pay and jobs won’t be counted.
Keep an eye out for more information on this.
For more detail on RDC’s specialty training policy, please visit our FAQs.
As of 18 September, all references to junior doctors in BMA communications have been changed to ‘resident doctors’.
Making up nearly 25% of all doctors in the UK, this cohort will now have a title that better reflects their huge range of skills and responsibilities.