Consultants guide to strike action in Wales

Taking part

Location: Wales
Audience: Consultants
Updated: Friday 5 April 2024
Topics: Pay and contracts, Pay

Check your contract

In a pay dispute with the NHS in Wales, you need a contract with an NHS employer in Wales to be able to take action.

The following are not included in the ballot and will not be asked to take industrial action:

  • Those with honorary contracts with an NHS employer
  • Those who aren’t on a medical consultant contract
  • Those who are not employed by an NHS employer. For example, you cannot take industrial action against any non-NHS employer, such as a university.

Check your role

Take a look at our list below to find if you can take part in industrial action as part of the pay dispute between the NHS and consultants in Wales.

Consultants

You can take part in this industrial action if you have an NHS employer and you are on consultant terms and conditions of service or a contract which mirrors these. You cannot take part if you are engaged on an honorary contract with an NHS employer or if you do not have an NHS employer – for example if you work in a private practice or a GP practice.

Locum consultants

You can take part in this industrial action if you have an NHS employer. You cannot take part if you do not have an NHS employer, such as a private practice or a GP practice, or are employed via a locum agency.

Consultant oral/dental surgeons

You can take part in this industrial action if you have an NHS employer and you are on consultant terms and conditions of service or a contract which mirrors these. You cannot take part if you have   an honorary contract or you do not have an NHS employer.

Medical managers

You can take part in this industrial action provided you are employed by an NHS employer on medical consultant terms and conditions or you work on a contract which mirrors these. You cannot take part if you do not have an NHS employer or are employed on alternative terms of conditions of service such as Agenda for Change. This applies to all medical managers, including clinical/medical directors, clinical leads, and associate and assistant medical/division directors.

Public health doctors

You can take part in industrial action if you are employed on medical and dental terms and conditions by an NHS employer in Wales.

You cannot take part if you do not have an NHS contract, for example if you are employed.

Consultant clinical academics

You can only take part in this industrial action if your primary employer is an NHS employer. You cannot take industrial action if your employer is a university/HEI.

Broadly, clinical academics are in two categories – those employed by a university/HEI with honorary NHS contracts, and those who are employed by the NHS with academic sessions recharged through the university.

When the university is the primary employer, in most cases, universities/HEIs are solely responsible for paying consultant clinical academics, even where there are re-charging arrangements with an NHS employer for clinical work delivered for them.

As we are not in dispute with universities/HEI employers (the substantive employers of most consultant clinical academics) consultant clinical academics could not be balloted on industrial action and therefore cannot take part in this industrial action.

When the consultant clinical academic’s primary employer is the NHS, they will be supported by the BMA to take part in this industrial action during their clinical activity though only on days when they are working for the NHS.

DMS (defence medical services)

You cannot take part in this industrial action if you are a regular in the armed forces as you are prohibited from doing so under King’s Regulations.

You can take action if you are a reservist and the action falls during time in which you are contracted to deliver NHS services for your civilian employer. This is because you are not precluded from taking industrial action against your civilian NHS employer.

Non-BMA members

You do not have to be a member of a trade union to take part in industrial action, though you will not benefit from any support or protection from the BMA. If you are a member of another union but are not a member of the BMA, you cannot take action unless that union also successfully balloted to strike. 

Become a BMA member now.

Still have questions?

If you can't find the information you need in this guide, send us your questions and we will add the answers to these pages.

Or contact BMA via our employment advice form if you have a question about your personal circumstances.