Wes Streeting offers resident doctors a bigger pay rise to end dispute

Health secretary Wes Streeting plans a larger pay increase for resident doctors and proposes financial penalties for trusts that fail to provide rest areas and hot food.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is preparing a new package that would give resident doctors in England a larger pay rise than other NHS staff. The proposals also include guarantees on working conditions and possible financial penalties for hospitals that fail to provide rest areas and access to hot food during shifts. Streeting and NHS leaders hope the measures will persuade the British Medical Association's resident doctors committee to pause or end its industrial action. The dispute has involved repeated strikes since March 2023 and remains a key issue for NHS services. Key facts: - Streeting is considering improving the NHS-wide 2.5% pay offer for 2026/27 for resident doctors, with sources saying he may at least double that figure. - Proposals include financial penalties for NHS trusts that do not provide rest areas and hot food to resident doctors, including during overnight shifts. - Plans are also being drawn up to ensure doctors are paid or given time off in lieu for work done beyond contracted hours. - The BMA's resident doctors voted to keep a strike mandate for six months and are seeking a 26% pay rise over several years and more training places. - Resident doctors staged a five-day walkout before Christmas; each of three five-day stoppages since July 2024 has been estimated to have cost the NHS about £250m. - A YouGov poll of 4,592 adults found 52% of people in Britain oppose strikes by resident doctors and 38% support them. Summary: The measures are intended to break a nearly three-year dispute by offering higher pay and firmer guarantees on working conditions specifically for resident doctors. Talks between Streeting and the BMA continue, and the union's resident doctors committee has said further strikes are unlikely in the near term while negotiations progress.