GP registrars asked to vote on Government resident doctor offer
GP registrars have been encouraged to take part in a referendum and accept the Government’s offer to resident doctors on pay and working conditions.
The BMA GP registrars committee (GPRC) has recommended that its members accept the offer, which includes pay improvements for GP registrars at ST1 and ST2, funding to cover mandatory GP training costs and RCGP membership, and ringfencing of a pay incentive.
Meanwhile, 4,500 extra specialty training posts have been offered as part of the deal but none will be for GP training places, due to ‘concerns around the post-CCT GP employment opportunities’.
It comes after the resident doctors committee called off strike action scheduled for 15 to 19 June, following the Government’s revised offer on 12 June.
GP registrars have until 26 June to vote on the offer, with a simple majority in favour needed to accept the deal.
For registrars, includes:
- GP ST1s and ST2s would receive 5.5% and 8.1% pay rises by April 2027 (not including any DDRB increase), although current GP ST3s would not receive any benefit from the reforms;
- From April 2026, GP registrar’s first and second attempts sitting the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) would be covered (£481 per sitting), and first and second attempts sitting the Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA – £1,207 per sitting);
- From April 2027, RCGP Membership fees (£445 per year) would be reimbursed;
- The GP Flexible Pay Premia would be ringfenced.
The committee said that that ringfencing the premia will protect the money from being ‘removed without equivalent protection’ amid any wider reforms to DDRB.
Committee chair Dr Oliver Salazar and deputy chair Dr Aimen Maksoud said: ‘No deal is perfect. However, we believe this package delivers tangible contractual protections, financial gains and training cost support for GP registrars, representing meaningful progress for our members.
‘To be clear, accepting this offer doesn’t prevent us from entering disputes in the future and balloting for industrial action.’
BMA resident doctors committee chair Jack Fletcher said: ‘After far too long without a credible offer on the table, at last the Government has come up with a package that is worth consideration by our members.
‘It is now up to doctors themselves to decide on their future. Tens of thousands of hard-working frontline doctors will be looking at this offer in detail and making their choice. As a democratic union we will respect their wishes whichever path they choose.
‘If they decide that this is another real step on the road to pay restoration, and a jobs package that gives more certainty to their careers, then the strikes will end. If they do not, then strikes will continue, and they will have to escalate in intensity with another re-ballot.
‘I will now await their decision. Either way, they have already waited far too long for a resolution to this dispute. Now is their chance to have their say.’
Health secretary James Murray, said: ‘This transformative offer improves the pay, working conditions and job prospects of hardworking resident doctors.
‘It is a very good offer, and it’s one that will not get any better. We now all have a chance to draw a line under the disruption of strikes and focus on getting on with the job of caring for patients and fixing our health service.’
Earlier this month, the BMA has asked the RCGP to consider an alternative provider for its trainee assessment platform if issues with the current tool cannot be resolved.
