Resident doctors are currently voting on whether to accept a significant offer from the government which would improve their pay, working conditions and career progression.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is consulting its members via a referendum, and doctors have until Friday 26 June to vote. A simple majority is needed to accept the offer and bring the dispute to an end long-term.
Here we explain what you need to know about the offer – and what it would do for resident doctors.
How much do resident doctors currently earn?Resident doctors have had a 28.9% pay rise over the last three years – the highest anywhere in the public sector.
Last year, the basic full-time pay for the newest doctors at Foundation Year 1 was £38,831.
Through this offer plus the separate increase recommended by the independent pay review body, that would rise by 6.2% to £41,226. This doesn’t include additional earnings from working additional contracted or unsocial hours. On average, these can increase earnings for FY1 doctors by 26%.
That is substantially more, in a resident doctor’s first year, than the average full-time worker in this country earns.
Last year, for the most experienced full-time resident doctors, basic pay was £73,992.
Through this offer and the DDRB, this would rise 4.5% to £77,348, even before additional earnings are included.
How would the offer improve pay?The offer would deliver meaningful, immediate pay rises while also reforming how pay works in the longer term.
This year, resident doctors would receive an average pay rise of 4.9%, bringing the total increase over four years to 35.2%. First and second-year doctors — typically the lowest paid — would receive even higher rises of 6.2% and 7.1% respectively.
A full breakdown of the pay structure reform and pay rises over the next two years is available here.
Longer term, the offer reforms the pay structure so that doctors receive pay rises more frequently as they gain new clinical competencies, rather than waiting for set points in their career. This June offer brings forward pay scale reform so that resident doctors experience the benefits of the pay rises faster compared with the offer set out in March.
On top of this, resident doctors would also receive a further annual pay rise set by the independent pay review body. Because this is decided independently, the exact figure is not yet known - but comes in addition to everything described above.
How does the offer improve working conditions?The offer would also put more money back in resident doctors’ pockets through the reimbursement of mandatory Royal College portfolio fees and mandatory examinations costs, often worth thousands of pounds. It would also uplift the Flexible Pay Premia, which is paid to trainees in England who complete an approved higher degree and returned to clinical training, to £10,000.
The offer also provides greater stability for Locally Employed Doctors (LEDs) who are currently employed on a different contract to most resident doctors, allowing them to progress more easily into higher training and improve their terms and conditions so they are aligned with the 2016 national resident doctor contract.
Doctors who work less than full time (LTFT) would also be able to progress on an annual basis, giving greater flexibility and fairness for those who need to balance work with other commitments.
How does the offer improve career progression?To tackle training bottlenecks which can hinder career progression, the offer would also trigger the implementation of up to an additional 4,500 training posts over the next three years, with 250 of these roles starting in February 2027.
Trusts will be asked to create these roles with funding partially coming from repurposing spending on LEDs, medical locums and agency work.
These are the jobs that early-career resident doctors graduate into to train for speciality role, such as being an anaesthetist or orthopaedic surgeon.
This builds on the Medical Training Prioritisation Act, the new law this government has already brought in, which is expected to halve competition ratios for this year’s applicants.
How long would resident doctors have to wait to feel the impact of these changes?Different elements of the offer will take different amounts of time.
Pay scale reform will be delivered over 2 years. Training posts will be increased by up to 4,500 over the next three years, including 1,000 next year. 250 of those will start in February 2027. Funding for Exam Fees backdated to 01 April 2026. Funding for Portfolio and Membership fees from 01 April 2027. An increase to the clinical academic flexible pay premia from 01 April 2027. Is the offer fully funded? How are you affording this offer?Yes. The offer is fully funded from DHSC’s existing budgets, with no additional cost to patients or taxpayers.
Further detail on the funding arrangements will be made available if the offer is accepted.
How is this offer different from the one made in March?The government has carefully listened to feedback provided by the BMA Resident Doctors Committee on behalf of their membership and worked with the BMA to strengthen and clarify the offer originally made in March.
What happens if the BMA doesn’t accept this offer?This is a one-time offer.
The impact of further strikes will make it operationally and financially impossible for the government to be able to present such a generous offer again.
Faced with further strikes, the offer will get worse, not better.
https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/17/government-offer-to-resident-doctors-explainer/
seen at 16:52, 17 June in Department of Health and Social Care Media Centre.