Pay

If you are due to be on shift and take industrial action

You will not get paid for any work not undertaken during strike action. We encourage you to begin planning ahead for the period of industrial action and to begin to save. Pay deductions are agreed to be 1/28th, 1/30th, or 1/31st of your monthly pay, per day of strike action, depending on the length of the month in which the action falls.

If you are on annual leave or zero hours

Your employer must not deduct your pay. This is even if you partake in picketing. You should not be called in.

If you are due to go on maternity leave

Read our section on strike action and maternity pay.

If you cannot afford to lose pay

Successful industrial action may require repeated or long periods of strike action. By planning ahead and saving, you can help to minimise the negative impact of losing pay. This will enable you to take part in industrial action in a way that is sustainable for you. We have a strike fund that makes payments to doctors who would not otherwise be able to afford to participate in industrial action due to loss of pay. You can read more about the strike fund including who can access the fund.

Defending pay 

We know that it is hard to lose income. Any day you strike you will lose pay. If we do not fight to defend our pay now, we could stand to lose a lot more in the future. 

We have no alternative. We need to send a message that we will defend our pay and the future of the profession, especially in the context of the Scottish Government threatening to break the deal we have previously secured. If you feel that you are unable to take part in industrial action as a consequence of financial issues, we would encourage you to make the best decision for yourself and your family. 

We have a strike fund that makes payments to doctors who would not otherwise be able to afford to participate in industrial action due to loss of pay. Read more information about the strike fund including who can access the fund.

Calculating pay deductions

NHS Employers have published advice to English trusts (see 'Pay and contract FAQs' on the NHS Employers industrial action hub page) that the pay deduction calculation for employers to use should be the equivalent of 1/365th of annual salary for each day striking, or an hourly calculation rate that crucially must be no greater a deduction than the 1/365th figure.

Contractually the calculation should be annual salary divided by 12 for monthly salary, then divided by the calendar days in the month for daily – which equates to 1/372 of annual per day striking in a 31-day month. You may see either of these approaches, but an employer must be consistent across strikes and cannot swap between them for its benefit depending upon the month of the strike.

Note also that this only applies to days when a resident doctor is actually striking from rostered duties - it does not apply to non-working days, 'zero days' or days of leave that overlap with the strike period. 

We expect a single shift to be treated as a single day for deduction purposes. This is regardless of whether it straddles one or two calendar days. So those working night shifts should not suffer greater pay deduction than colleagues working days.

If your employer seeks to deduct pay in any other way than we've set out and for any further issues, please contact BMA for support.

Pensions

When a member takes strike action, it is typical that they would not be paid for that day. Therefore, no service or pay accrues towards your pension benefits, and the day(s) are disallowed, and therefore effectively ignored from active service.  There is no provision to pay back contributions for strike periods. This is confirmed in guidance from SPPA.

If you require any further information, please contact the BMA.