NHS Wales: Doctors reject Welsh government 5% pay offer

Doctors have rejected a Welsh government offer of a 5% pay rise.

It would have covered consultants, junior doctors, and specialist doctors on contracts dating to 2008.

The British Medical Association Cymru said those on 2021 specialist contracts would get no increase other than that already in their multi-year pay deal.

The BMA's Iona Collins called it the "worst offer in the UK", but the Welsh government said there were limits without more UK government money.

BMA committees will meet within the next fortnight to decide whether to enter a dispute with the Welsh government and ballot for industrial action.

"A 5% uplift represents yet another pay cut in real terms and serves only to increase the losses faced by doctors, after more than a decade's worth of sub-inflation pay awards," said Dr Collins, who chairs the BMA's Welsh council.

The offer, she said, did "not comply with Welsh government's formal commitment to the principle of full pay restoration".

"5% is less than what is being offered in England or Scotland and it is less than the DDRB (Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body) recommendation.

"It is the worst offer in the UK."

In England doctors were offered a 6% rise in July while in Scotland junior doctors have been offered a pay increase of 17.5% over two years.

The Welsh government said it was "disappointing" negotiations had halted but said it understood the strength of feeling among doctors.

It said there were limits to what it could offer without extra UK government funding.

A spokesman said: "We continue to press it to pass on the funding necessary for full and fair pay rises for public sector workers".

Plaid Cymru's health spokesperson Mabon ap Gwynfor said: "The reality of this pay offer is that doctors were being asked to accept a further fall in living standards.

"BMA Cymru Wales has rejected an offer that was little more than a sticking plaster over the deep wound caused by years of underfunding."

The Welsh Conservatives described the rejected offer as "disheartening".

"Labour need to seriously look at their costly vanity projects like sending more politicians to Cardiff Bay and prioritise our Welsh NHS instead," said the party's health spokesperson Russel George.