Latest news with #resident doctors
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors' student debts to avert strike
Doctors could have some of their student loan debts written off as part of a package of measures being examined by Wes Streeting that may help avert next week's strike. The Department of Health and Social Care is analysing how a new system of 'forgiveness' could be brought in for younger doctors who are paying back student debts of up to £100,000. The disclosure that the DHSC is looking closely at such a scheme comes before crucial talks on Thursday afternoon between the health secretary and the co-chairs of the British Medical Association's (BMA) resident doctors committee aimed at averting the latter's planned five-day walkout starting on 25 July. The health department is looking at several different ways such a scheme might work, according to well-placed sources. They include not charging interest on debts accrued by doctors in training while they were at medical school – freezing the debt in effect – and cutting the overall debt by a certain sum for every year the doctor works in the NHS in England. Advocates of debt relief believe it would incentivise doctors to stay in the NHS rather than quitting and would show them that the government is keen to improve their finances but without giving them big annual pay rises that would prompt other public sector workers to seek the same. The BMA's resident doctors committee wants Streeting to give the 55,000 doctors in training in England it represents a 29% pay rise over the next few years as part of its long-running campaign to restore the full value of salaries to the level they were at in 2008. But Streeting has refused to reopen negotiations on the 5.4% award for this year he imposed on them in May. The DHSC has begun modelling the practicalities of a debt relief scheme as it explores what steps it, and NHS trusts, which directly employ medics, could take to meet doctors' concerns about issues that do not involve their salaries but cause them huge frustration. It is also looking at whether doctors could have some or all of the cost of taking exams needed to progress their careers covered and moves to make it easier for younger doctors to take annual leave. While Streeting cannot offer resident doctors a bigger pay rise this year, he is aware that being able to commit to progress on non-pay related issues – which he has more freedom to deliver – could show them that he is, as he has said, the health secretary most sympathetic to their desire to improve their working lives that they are likely to encounter. Debt forgiveness is a key priority for the BMA, which may see it becoming an issue on which the two sides – currently far apart – can find common ground. The co-chairs of the resident doctor committee, Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, indicated that they would consider any proposal from the government on debt write-off. Crucially, they added that it could act as 'an element' of them realising their ambition of restoring the value of doctors' pay. 'If wiping out student loans for doctors in England is something the government is considering, then we would be interested to see the details of what that means in practical terms. 'Loan forgiveness is something we would have to consider as a committee as an element of restoring value to doctors' working lives, and so if the government is serious about this then we look forward to hearing more from the health secretary in today's meeting. 'After five years of study, students can finish medical school with debts of up to £100,000 and then, as doctors, face monthly loan repayments of up to 10% of their salary for most of their working lives.' However, any student debt write-off scheme for doctors would be complicated for the government, and require the Treasury's approval. It could also prompt other health unions, notably the Royal College of Nursing, to demand that their members are able to benefit from such an arrangement.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Junior doctors in line for £270m pension boost under new pay demands
Striking junior doctors will receive an extra £270m a year in gold-plated pension contributions if Labour meets their latest pay demands, figures suggest. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, is due to meet doctors on Thursday in a last-ditch attempt to avoid planned industrial action next week. The Government has already confirmed they will receive a 5.4pc salary boost, but medics voted in favour of a five-day walk-out after their request for 29pc was rejected. Awarding the full amount could net the average worker almost £15,000 more in pay, and an extra £3,500 in pension contributions, analysis has found. There are 77,000 junior doctors, recently renamed as resident doctors, working in NHS hospitals and community services, potentially adding another £269.5m to the pensions bill. Taxpayers already hand £11bn a year to NHS retirees, and pay another £16bn in pension contributions for current staff. As part of the NHS Pension Scheme, resident doctors pay between 9.8pc and 12.8pc of their salary in themselves. In return, they receive employer contributions of 23.7pc and retire with a guaranteed, inflation-linked pension for life. They currently earn an average of £51,450 during their core training years, which would rise to £66,400 if their demands were met in full. Their pay has already risen 28.9pc over the last three years. The British Medical Association (BMA) balloted its members on strike action after the Government rejected its demands for 29pc. Industrial action will begin on July 25 and could cause more than 200,000 hospital appointments to be cancelled. John O'Connell, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Taxpayers are already shelling out billions for gold-plated public sector pensions, and now resident doctors want even more. 'If they get their way, it will be ordinary British workers – many of whom will never see such generous retirement deals – left footing the bill. 'This strike is a disgrace and should be stopped before it causes real harm to patients.' However, the Resident Doctors Committee said: 'Resident doctor pay is down more than a fifth since 2008-09, when pay began falling in real terms. We're only asking for that to be restored. No doctor is worth less or working less than they were 17 years ago. 'We estimate the net cost to the Treasury of full pay restoration for resident doctors to be less than 0.5pc of the NHS budget, which is a tiny price to pay to guarantee the future of the medical profession and health service.' Resident doctors have walked out 11 times since 2023, but strikes came to a halt after Labour agreed to a 22pc pay rise. Mr Streeting said the BMA was now leaving the NHS's recovery 'hanging by a thread', and called the strikes 'completely unreasonable'. However, in an LBC interview last week, he opened the door to cutting pension contributions in favour of pay rises. Neil Record, a pensions expert and former Bank of England economist, said: 'Wes Streeting has already floated the idea that NHS workers might be able to opt for higher cash salaries in return for lower pension accrual for future service. 'Coincidentally, a doctor choosing to give up all future pension contributions from their employer, but preserving the pension they've already built up, could be given a take-home pay increase of almost exactly the same as the current 29pc pay claim without any additional cost to the NHS and hence the taxpayer. 'Perhaps this could be offered to doctors as an option, and see what the take-up is?' When approached by The Telegraph however, the BMA ruled the move out. A Department for Health spokesman said talks on strike action were ongoing: 'The secretary of state has been clear that these strikes are unnecessary and unreasonable, following a 28.9pc pay rise and the majority of doctors not voting for these strikes. 'The BMA has accepted the Health Secretary's offer to meet.'
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Junior doctors planning to strike AGAIN over pay 'are now earning as much as £100,000 a year' - as new poll shows slump in public support and leading medics urge union to call off walkout
Some of the junior doctors preparing to strike for five-days this month over pay could be earning upwards of £100,000 a year, according to new calculations. Rebranded as 'resident doctors' in September last year, those working a 40-hour week plus a full on-call rota may be making six-figure annual salaries, The Telegraph reported. Earlier this week, the British Medical Association (BMA) announced that up to 50,000 resident doctors in England would walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on July 25, in a dispute over pay. However, new polling suggests that the strike does not have the support of the British public. Only just over a third (36 per cent) of those surveyed supported the mass industrial action, which would see a large number of routine care appointments postponed in order to keep A&E fully staffed. The poll, conducted by YouGov on behalf of The Times, found that nearly half (49 per cent) of the population opposes the walkout. The survey also found that 43 per cent would support legislation that made it illegal for doctors to go on strike while 54 per cent of respondents said that the pay rise sought by the BMA was unaffordable. That is a dramatic decrease in support compared to the previous round of industrial action by doctors, who staged a five-day strike between June 27 and June 2 last year. Adding to the crescendo of voices discouraging the strike, two of the nation's most well-known doctors have also joined calls for the BMA to reconsider its plans as they warned walkouts could cause irreparable harm to public trust in the profession. Lord Ara Darzi, 65, a former health minister and surgeon, followed calls made by Professor Robert Winston, a Labour peer, who told the Times the 'highly dangerous' walkout could damage the public's trust in doctors. Professor Winston said: 'Strike action completely ignores the vulnerability of people in front of you. 'Doctors need to be reminded that every time they have a patient in front of them, they have someone who is frightened and in pain. It's important that doctors consider their own responsibility much more seriously.' Lord Darzi, 65, told the same newspaper: 'Doctors have a special place in society. The public's trust in doctors is earned, not guaranteed. 'I fear it will never recover if the BMA go ahead with strikes that are plainly unjustifiable.' Meanwhile, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, who is set to leave his post as NHS England national medical director imminently, warned the BMA to 'think really hard' about whether the industrial action is justified. In his final interview before retiring, Sir Stephen, 64, told the newspaper the walkout would cause 'tens of thousands of appointments and procedures' to be cancelled. Resident doctors in England and Wales have dismissed a suggestion from health secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) that their pensions could be trimmed to fund pay demands The pair's calls echoed those made by Prof Winston, 84, who said he resigned from the BMA on Thursday. In a statement on Friday, a BMA spokesman said it is 'disappointing' when any of its 195,000 members resign, but said resident doctors are beginning their careers 'more than 20% worse off in real terms than their counterparts in 2008'. The spokesman added: 'We're sure that doctors who dedicated their lives to the health of the nation want to safeguard the profession and the NHS for the future. 'This means improving pay and conditions so that resident doctors stay in the health service and the UK to become expert clinical leaders, running entire services and innovating treatments. 'Doctors take their professional obligations incredibly seriously, and the decision to strike is not made lightly. 'But with nine out of 10 of our resident doctor members who voted backing industrial, it's clear that there is support for doing what is necessary to fight to restore pay. 'Of course, no strikes have to happen, and no care needs to be disrupted, if the Health Secretary meets with us to discuss the 'journey' to pay restoration as he so often called it in opposition.' The BMA is demanding a 29 per cent increase in wages for its resident doctors in order to stave off strikes, although that figure is controversial. They say that is necessary since in real terms pay for junior doctors has dropped by 21 per cent over the last 17 years - the same as if they worked for free for a fifth of their time. However, the professional body based that number on the retail price index measure of inflation, a statistic jettisoned by the UK government in 2013. Junior doctors start on £38,831 a year following the government's decision to award them an above-inflation rise in May this year. But once residents are in ST8, their final training stage, annual wages can be as high as £73,992 a year. That means if a junior doctor works a regular 40-hour week but also does significant amounts of 'on-call' locum work then they can rake in as much as £100,000. Health secretary Wes Streeting posted about the forthcoming strike action on X, calling it 'unreasonable' and 'unnecessary'. Hewrote: 'We negotiated and delivered pay rises worth 28.9 per cent. This year's pay award was the highest in the entire public sector. 'We cannot afford to re-open that pay award. I have offered talks without any preconditions. The BMA is refusing. Unreasonable. Unnecessary.'
