Key points at a glance

• Total investment of £124.9m (11%) in pay which is made up of:
  
  • an uplift of 10.5% to all pay points on the proposed pay scale
  • increase in the value of discretionary points from £3,204 to £3,600 (12.35%).
• This offer applies to all NHS Scotland Consultants and relevant Clinical Academics.
• The proposed pay scale has the highest starting salary in the UK.
• The proposed pay scale maintains parity with the other UK nations at almost all pay points.
• The proposed pay scale gives the highest percentage uplift in the UK this year.

BMA Scotland will be conducting a consultative vote by Consultants in Scotland, which will open in mid-October and run for 3 weeks. Read further details about the vote.

The Scottish Consultants Committee recommends that members vote to accept the deal.

New pay scale

All consultants will receive a pay uplift of 10.5% as a result of the deal.

The new pay scale begins at £107,144, the highest starting consultant salary in the UK. The top of the scale will be £142,369; this is higher than England and Northern Ireland, but lower than Wales for basic pay at the top of the scale. However, Scottish consultants can surpass the Welsh figure if they have discretionary points.

Other elements of the deal

We will withdraw the consultant rate card if the offer is accepted. We reserve the right to reintroduce the rate card if an agreement cannot be reached in respect of a national rate for short term cover or in the event of a future industrial dispute.

To agree to participate in the reformed DDRB process, which Scottish Government fully supports, for the 2025/26 pay round and to utilise this process as a basis for further discussion to establish a financially sustainable mechanism for Scottish Government to tackle pay erosion for Consultants in Scotland. We do however reserve the right to seek direct pay negotiations with Scottish Government and withdraw from the DDRB process in the future.

As part of this agreement there is a commitment to undertake further work via task and finish groups under the Joint Negotiation Committee between Scottish Government, BMA Scotland and NHS Employers. These groups will seek to conclude in 2025/26 and will be tasked with:

• Discussions on the balance of different elements of the job plan for Consultants to facilitate attractive employment opportunities within NHS Scotland and to enable retention of the existing workforce.
• Discussions to agree a national rate for internal short term cover to improve continuity of care and help alleviate agency and locum spend within NHS Scotland. 

Read the full Scottish Government offer

How we got here

For many years, consultants in Scotland have been working harder and longer, with more complex cases in a much more challenging environment, whilst a crisis built in the health service.

Since the financial crisis in 2008, doctors have experienced real terms pay detriment, with repeated pay freezes, pay caps and sub inflation pay uplifts, all at a time when inflation has run much higher.

For consultants, the real terms pay cut using CPI is 16% and 28.3% using RPI. The pay erosion for consultants with discretionary points is worse due to the value of DPs having been frozen since 2009 (representing a significant saving to Scottish Government over the period). The value of a discretionary point (DP) has remained static at £3,204 since April 2009.

The Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body (DDRB) recommendations over many years were normally sub-inflationary which meant that doctors in Scotland suffered considerable pay erosion.

As a result of this, the Scottish Consultants committee (SCC) decided not to participate in the DDRB process in 2024, and instead sought direct pay negotiations with Scottish Government. Initial meetings in the early part of 2024 had little progress and in June SCC voted to enter a formal dispute with the Scottish Government due to lack of progress.

The first formal negotiation meeting was held in mid-August with the Cabinet Secretary and there were further meetings between BMA and government officials as well as with the Cabinet Secretary where progress was made.

At a meeting on SCC on 10 September it was agreed that we needed to have a formal offer from government by the end of September, and further meetings took place thereafter with the Scottish Government.

An emergency meeting of SCC was held on 24 September where the final offer from Scottish Government was discussed. SCC agreed to put the offer to consultants in Scotland to vote on whether to accept or reject the offer. SCC will consider the result after the vote closes and agree on next steps.

DDRB

The BMA has longstanding concerns about the effectiveness and independence of the DDRB, the pay review body responsible for reviewing doctors' pay and recommending annual uplifts. 

The Scottish Government supports the reforms secured by our colleagues in the UK consultants committee to the DDRB process for 2025/26. As outlined in the offer detail above, if accepted then SCC will participate in the reformed DDRB process for the 2025/26 pay round and to utilise this process as a basis for further discussion to establish a financially sustainable mechanism for Scottish Government to tackle pay erosion for Consultants in Scotland. We do however reserve the right to seek direct pay negotiations with Scottish Government and withdraw from the DDRB process in the future.

Your questions answered

Why is SCC recommending consultants accept this offer?

SCC believes this is the best offer that could be achieved by negotiation. It puts Scottish consultants ahead of their counterparts in the rest of the UK at almost all points, including the top of the scale, and when the uplift to the value of discretionary points is included, it makes it the best deal in any of the 4 nations. The fact that we have been able to reach this deal without having to take industrial action is also hugely positive.

What happens if consultants vote to accept the deal?

SCC will consider the outcome of the ballot and whether it is decisive enough to advise Scottish Government that the deal has been accepted. In the event that it is a clear acceptance, both parties will work together to implement the new pay scales as quickly as possible.

What happens if consultants vote to reject the deal?

SCC will have to consider possible next steps if the membership reject the offer; this could include industrial action.

Who is eligible to vote in the ballot?

All BMA members who are consultants working for NHS Scotland are eligible to vote. Please check your details to ensure you are registered as a Consultant and that we have your current place of work details and email details. Anyone who is not a member will be able to vote if they join the BMA by mid-October.

When will I receive the uplift?

BMA Scotland will work with Scottish Government to ensure the increase is applied to salaries as soon as practically possible. The back pay to 1st April 2024 will normally be paid in the month after the pay increase is received.

What about discretionary points?

The value of discretionary points will rise to £3,600 under this offer. Only the value is changing and members should follow their current local processes when applying for discretionary points.

What about the DDRB uplift for 2024/25?

DDRB recommended a 6% uplift for 2024 and this is included in the overall 10.5% increase on offer.

Why has the pay scale in Scotland not been shortened, as it has in England and Northern Ireland?

The negotiating team was keen to reach a deal that was acceptable, and having been able to get to this final offer in less than 6 weeks from the first formal negotiating meeting is down to the hard work of the negotiating teams from all parties. We did consider whether there was anything we could do to shorten the pay journey for Scottish consultants, but the quality of workforce and payroll information available to us was not sufficient to enable full modelling of the effect of that for this year. We are open to considering this in future if there is an improvement in the data available to us.

Is the aim still for full pay restoration?  When will that be achieved?

BMA Scotland is committed to fully addressing the erosion of consultant pay. The 10.5% increase achieved this year is significantly above inflation and is a positive first step towards achieving this. The Scottish Government offer commits both them and BMA to use the DDRB process as a basis for further discussion to tackle pay erosion for consultants in Scotland.

How to vote

Civica are administering the consultative vote on behalf of BMA Scotland on the Scottish Government offer to end the current pay dispute with consultants in Scotland.

You will be sent information from Civica on the offer and how to vote, which will include a link that is unique to you and should not be forwarded on to anyone else. If anyone else uses your unique link, it will prevent you from voting. You will only be able to cast your vote once.

The deadline to join BMA to be able to take part is mid-October. Join to become a member.

Upcoming webinar

We will be arranging a webinar for members to hear full details of the offer and to answer any questions. Check back for details or, if you are a member, we will email you about this directly.

Still have questions?

If you have questions about the offer or about the ballot, please email us at [email protected].