BMA UK council is the principal executive committee of the trade union. It sets the strategic direction of the association in line with policy decided by the representative body. Council is responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies (that are not inconsistent with those passed by the representative body) throughout the year between annual representative meetings.
Our impact
In 2025 council shaped and approved the BMA’s strategy to guide the Association’s work up until 2030 and is responsible for developing and supporting its delivery on behalf of BMA members.
Recognising the expectation and need to continue to grow, empower and engage BMA members, the strategy aligns the Association’s resources around three priorities.
Read about our impact during the course of the 2025/26 BMA calendar year in relation to these priorities below.
Organising to win
- At the end of 2025 our sustained high levels of membership peaked at over 200,000 for the first time in the BMA’s history.
- We trained 566 reps to organise and win in the workplace
- We equipped over 100 reps with campaigning skills by rolling out stand-alone campaigning workshops to ensure the voice of the profession is heard locally and nationally.
- We delivered 10 industrial action ballots across our four nations as members continue to fight for pay restoration and jobs, while our strike fund has supported over 10,000 members taking action.
- Continued to secure important wins for members with new pay agreements for doctors across our four nations and improvements for GPs in Scotland and Wales, as doctors in Northern Ireland continued to bring pressure to bear over the DDRB award.
- Medical students drove the campaign to Fix Our Funding forward with a day of action engaging students in medical schools across the UK.
- Supported Dr Susan Gilby in her whistleblowing case against the Countess of Chester NHS Trust helping to secure £1.4m in compensation.
- Supported more than 42,000 members seeking employment advice and support and won over £2.9 million in compensation for members and £2.66m through our legal providers.
- A record 247 candidates took part in the biggest council elections in the BMA history.
- We welcomed over 600 members to our Annual Representative Meeting 2025 in Liverpool, while our first Special Representative Meeting in nearly a decade informed our response to NHS England’s 10-year health plan.
Campaigning to influence
- Over 5,200 members took part in the largest survey of doctors on the issue of advanced practice helping us continue to bring pressure to bear over doctor substitution.
- Amplified the voices of medical students and led calls to stop sexism and sexual violence in UK medical education with the landmark report ‘Sexism and sexual
violence against medical students’. - We continue to hold the GMC to account with our engagement with politicians leading to MPs echoing our concerns and an apology that the GMC had not done more to clearly distinguish between the roles of doctors and assistants.
- Continued to ensure that doctors’ experiences during the pandemic are heard and learnt from by actively contributing to the UK Covid Inquiry and Scottish Covid
Inquiry to make sure crucial lessons are learned and implemented. - Won significant improvements for public health with the passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, including a government commitment to a smoke-free generation and an
action to curb youth vaping. - At a time of significant global conflict, we published a landmark report highlighting the threat to doctors and healthcare workers operating in conflict zones – ‘Medicine
Under Attack: the increasing assault on healthcare in conflict zones.’ - In parliaments across our nations and crown dependencies we extensively engaged on legislation that sought to legalise assisted dying across the UK – remaining neutral on the fundamental question of whether the legislation should pass but ensuring there are vital protections in place for doctors if it does.
Enabling success
- Launched a digital pay checker tool helping over 10,360 resident doctors validate their contractual pay compared to their work patterns, while surfacing collective pay errors leading to group claims by our members.
- Successfully implemented all the recommendations of the Omambala review into our support for minority ethnic members.
- The introduction of our new ballot management system is streamlining our processes making it easier to support members balloting for industrial action.
- Implemented a new EIA (equality impact assessment) form and guidance to support inclusive practices at the BMA, ensuring they are fair and do not discriminate against any protected groups and that equality is promoted for the benefit of members, staff and stakeholders.
- The financial year of 2025 saw revenue for the BMA reach £76.4m, with £66.4m of income from members through subscriptions, and £10.0m in other income. However, costs for the year were £81.6m, meaning a deficit of £5.2m for 2025.
- The recovery programme, which aimed to close the gap between income and expenditure concluded at the end of 2025. The programme achieved all its aims and delivered consolidated savings of over £4m and would have delivered its ultimate aim of a balanced position had the economy had a period of normal inflation. As such, and as our costs have generally increased with the prevailing rates of inflation, the deficit for 2025 was £5.2m, but without the programme, the annual deficit of the BMA would be over £9m.
- A new financial strategy – the pathway to neutral, has been launched, which aims to bring the BMA to a position of financial balance by 2029 through a series of cost controls, savings and growth in income.