Third round of junior doctors strikes announced by BMA as union brand latest 5% pay rise offer an 'insult'

Junior doctors in England will once again be heading out on strikes as the British Medical Association (BMA) branded the government's latest pay offer an "insult".

The union confirmed that workers would be striking for a total of 72 hours from 7am on Wednesday 14 June. It comes after pay negations between representatives broke down once again.

The government latest offer has stood at a 5% pay rise for junior doctors. The BMA have been seeking a 35% pay rise for its members.

Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, said that the union was "seeking a deal that fully restores pay for junior doctors". They added: "We entered these talks in good faith, hoping that after months of refusal by ministers to meet with us, we would finally see a real offer on the table that would avoid the need for more industrial action and stop the haemorrhaging of junior doctors from the NHS.

“In that time we have received an offer which is in no way credible or even reasonable for where we are in the negotiating process. We made clear from the very start that talks required a recognition of the scale of our pay erosion. No such recognition has been forthcoming.

“We made proposals showing our willingness to be creative and work with the Government on how the reversal of our pay erosion could be achieved. In the end, however, the Government would simply not accept the fundamental reality of the pay cuts junior doctors have faced.

“This was made clear when they finally made their pay offer of 5%. Not only is that nowhere near addressing pay erosion over the last 15 years, it would not even have matched inflation this year.”

A government spokesperson said: “It is both surprising and deeply disappointing that the BMA Junior Doctors Committee has declared further strike action while constructive talks were ongoing. These will be hugely disruptive for patients and put pressure on other NHS staff.

“We made a fair and reasonable opening offer, and were in active discussions about both pay and non-pay issues. Unfortunately, it seems the BMA is unwilling to move meaningfully away from their unaffordable headline demands on pay.

“The Government has been clear that strikes must be paused while talks take place, so while the BMA has chosen to end our current discussions, we remain ready to continue them at any point if strikes are called off.”

Despite the breaking down of recent negotiations, The BMA is set to meet once again with Health Secretary Steve Barclay this Wednesday (24 May).

The strikes in England have been announced on the same day that junior doctors in Scotland were offered a 14.5% pay rise over two years. Workers in Scotland had threatened a similar 72-hour walkout before receiving the offer from the Scottish government.