Resident doctors in England were guaranteed a 2% pay rise in 2022/23, as part of the multi-year pay deal agreed in 2019. This contract also brought an additional £90 million investment and many significant improvements on the 2016 contract.

From our perspective, the deal provided a guarantee of annual uplifts that were higher than those seen since 2008, in the context of an uncertain time due to the potential impacts of an impending Brexit. 82% of junior doctor members who voted in the referendum on the new contract, agreed to accept them.

However, the contract was agreed before the pandemic started and when inflation was below 2%. Our new calculations show that pay awards for junior doctors in England from 2008/09 to 2021/22 have delivered a real terms (RPI) pay cut of 26.1%, even accounting for total investment secured through the multi-year pay deal agreed in 2019.

Resident doctor pay analysis methodology - September 2022

Resident doctor pay restoration costing analysis methodology - January 2023

Doctors in training in England were once again excluded from the pay award process because their contract is still subject to a multiple-year pay deal, awarding them 2% for 2022/23.

This is in spite of the Framework Agreement for the 2018 contract negotiations, which established the current pay deal, explicitly stating that the DDRB is able to make further pay recommendations or observations on behalf of resident doctors in England where requested (8.1). They once again decided that because this group was not included in the UK Government's remit letter, they are unable to make formal recommendations on their behalf, allowing the UK Government to disregard them altogether.

While the 4.5% uplift would in any case be unsatisfactory, amounting to a likely 6% pay cut in the face of spiralling inflation, to exclude resident doctors in England from the award given to other NHS workers is nothing less than a betrayal of the profession.

As the DDRB themselves note, a decision not to apply an award to groups subject to a pay deal will have 'a significant effect on motivation, affecting retention, productivity, and ultimately patient care'. They actively state that the headline increase of 2%, set as part of the current deal, is 'likely not sufficient' to address those issues.

Since early 2022, the RDC (resident doctors committee) has escalated our campaign on pay to challenge the government to make a fair pay award for NHS resident doctors this year, that addresses the long term pay erosion our members have faced.

RDC also made the decision to withdraw from the DDRB process this year for resident doctors in England in response to concerns over the body's effectiveness and independence from Government.