The junior doctor pay deal won’t end the government’s NHS headache

The government has offered junior doctors a pay rise worth up to 20 per cent over two years in a bid to end the strikes that have seriously hampered the NHS. Rachel Reeves is expected to confirm later today that the doctors have struck a deal with their ministers that will include a backdated rise of 4.05 per cent – on top of the existing 8-10 per cent raise – for 2023/24. Then pay will rise again by 6 per cent in 2024/25, as well as doctors receiving an additional £1,000. The cost of the deal is £1 billion.

The overall 20 per cent hike is much closer to the 35 per cent that the British Medical Association had demanded – and that both this government and the previous had argued was unaffordable. The deal allows both sides to maintain their positions: the government can still say that it is not making unaffordable deals, while the BMA can argue that it has secured much better than expected deal for its members and that the protracted strikes were worthwhile.