Pay offer for SAS doctors following intense negotiations with the Welsh Government
SAS doctors in Wales have voted YES to accepting the pay offer from the Welsh Government.
The Welsh SAS committee has confirmed our acceptance of the offer for the 2023/24 pay year, bringing our current pay dispute to an end.
Dr Ali Nazir, chair of BMA Cymru Wales’ SAS committee said:
“For far too long the invaluable contribution of SAS doctors in Wales has been disregarded and so reaching a fairer deal for this experienced part of the workforce is very much welcomed. We will continue to fight for the rights of SAS doctors”.
Employers should now provide further information on the implementation of the pay deal once the Welsh Government publishes updated pay circulars. We will provide updates in due course on progress on other elements of the pay deal previously detailed.
How we got here
During our pay negotiation in August 2023 for the 2023/24 pay year, the final offer made by the Welsh Government was to uplift pay for those on the 2008 SAS contract by just 5% and for those on the 2021 contract by 1.5%. We firmly rejected this offer and with no other offer on the table, moved to ballot you for industrial action.
The ballot closed on 4 March, and you voted in favour of taking industrial action. We announced a 48-hour strike alongside consultants which was due to start on 16 April 2024.
As a result of sustained pressure from three rounds of strike action by junior doctors and the looming action from senior doctors, we were invited alongside our colleagues from the junior doctor and consultant committees in Wales to enter into pay talks. We called off our April strike action to allow the time and space for negotiations to take place.
Following intense negotiations with the Welsh Government, we were pleased to have reached a final offer from the Welsh Government that we recommended you accept.
A referendum of members was held between 12 June and 26 June. SAS doctors in Wales have delivered a clear YES vote, with 82% voting to accept the offer (turnout 56%). The Welsh SAS committee has confirmed our acceptance of the offer for the 2023/24 pay year, bringing our current pay dispute to an end.
Employers should now provide further information on the implementation of the pay deal once the Welsh Government publishes updated pay circulars. We will provide updates in due course on progress on other elements of the pay deal previously detailed.
Overview of Welsh Government pay offer
Pay negotiations with Welsh Government
We joined additional last-minute pay talks alongside other health unions, where the Welsh Government offered to increase the 2022/23 pay uplift from 4.5% to 6% and provide a one-off payment of 1.5%. These talks were to avert further strike action from other health unions. At that point, the BMA was not in a trade dispute with Welsh Government. As part of this, the Welsh Government also committed to the principle of full pay restoration to 2008 levels.
Although this pay award did not go anywhere near restoring SAS doctors’ pay, we made the decision to vote to accept this offer. We did so because we were nearing the end of the 2022/23 pay year and because the Minister agreed as part of the offer to enter immediately into pay talks for 2023/24. We did not feel this would stymie our campaign for SAS pay restoration going forward and felt members could benefit from receiving additional pay in the 2022/23 pay year.
We were invited to attend pay talks for the 2023/24 pay year.
We made internal preparations to enter pay negotiations with the Welsh Government.
Alongside colleagues from the other secondary care branches of practice, we entered pay talks with the Welsh Government. Government officials attended but with no pay envelope in which to negotiate, noting that a cabinet meeting was still required to consider this. We used the opportunity to outline the importance of providing a fair pay offer to doctors and of restoring pay to 2008/09 levels.
Pay talks resumed. The Welsh Government provided an opening and final offer of 5% for SAS doctors on the 2008 contract, and 1.5% for those on the 2021 contracts in addition to the existing multi-year pay deal. This was the worst pay offer for SAS doctors in the UK and was below even the DDRB recommendation for 2023/24. Our negotiation team withdrew from talks on the basis that no credible pay offer was on the table.
WSASC held an extraordinary meeting to consider the pay offer and unanimously decided to ballot members on taking industrial action.
The BMA’s UK Council then considered and approved the WSASC application to ballot for industrial action.
We wrote to the Welsh Government confirming BMA UK Council approval for balloting and making clear our willingness to come back to the negotiation table if a credible pay offer was made.
SAS doctors in Wales voted in favour of taking industrial action over pay.
Turnout:
- Number of individuals who were entitled to vote in the ballot: 477
- Number of votes cast in the ballot: 276
- Votes cast in the ballot as a % of individuals who were entitled to vote: 57.86%
- Number of spoilt or otherwise invalid voting papers returned: 1
Result of voting
- Yes: 259 (94.18%)
- No: 16 (5.82%)
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A strike fund is available to subsidise members in serious financial difficulty who otherwise couldn’t afford to take part in any future rounds of strike action.
The strike fund is supported through voluntary donations to make available to doctors in need.
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