The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced it will ballot consultants and specialist, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors in England on whether to join resident doctors in strike action, escalating a dispute over pay and conditions. The BMA warned that if the ballots succeed, all hospital doctors in England could take industrial action simultaneously, potentially causing severe disruption to NHS services.
Consultants are demanding higher pay, shorter hours, and more protected time for training and research, citing a 25% real-terms pay erosion since 2008-09. SAS doctors seek increased basic pay, improved overtime rates, more annual leave, and better career opportunities, including a change to the threshold for out-of-hours pay from 9pm to 7pm.
Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are due to begin a six-day strike on 7 April after rejecting the government's final offer. The BMA's resident doctors committee said the government had shifted the goalposts during negotiations, particularly over the timing of £700 million in progression pay. Health Secretary Wes Streeting proposed spreading the sum over three years, while the BMA wanted it fully implemented in the new financial year starting this week.
The Department of Health and Social Care responded by noting that consultants earn an average of £147,000 per year and have received above-inflation pay rises, including a 28.5% increase over four years for new senior doctors. It described the 3.5% pay award for 2026-27 as reasonable and said there were no grounds for strike action.
The ballots for consultants and SAS doctors will run from 11 May to 6 July, leaving time for further talks. The BMA represents around 36,000 of the 66,000 consultants and 7,000 of the 16,000 SAS doctors in England.
