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Junior doctors in Scotland have voted to accept the latest pay offer from the Scottish government and will receive a pay rise of 12.4% backdated to April.
In addition, the government has committed to agreeing a new pay review mechanism with junior doctors – the aim of which is to reach a “mutually agreeable path to achieve pay restoration and prevent erosion recurring in the future” – effectively withdrawing junior doctors in Scotland from the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body (DDRB).
BMA Scotland will also enter contract negotiations with the Scottish government from autumn this year, with the aim of improving the working and training conditions of junior doctors in Scotland by April 2026.
The result of the consultative vote saw 81.64% vote in favour of the offer, with a turnout of 71.24%.
Junior doctors in Scotland have “demonstrated our power”
Dr Chris Smith, Chair of the Scottish junior doctors committee (SJDC), said that this offer moves them from a position where pay restoration was a strongly held conviction within the profession to a shared goal that the Scottish government has publicly committed to working with them to complete.
He added: “Key to this offer, that sets it apart from what is happening elsewhere in the UK, is that the Scottish government recognises this reality and has agreed to ongoing negotiations towards full pay restoration to 2008 levels, with an unprecedented commitment to set inflation as the floor of the pay offer at each round of negotiation. This structure will maintain the momentum of our campaign in Scotland for full pay restoration over the next few months and into next year.
“If sufficient progress towards full pay restoration is not made at the next round of negotiations or should the Scottish government not follow through with any elements of its offer, we will not hesitate to ballot our members again and take strike action, should it be required. We have demonstrated our power – and no-one should be in any doubt about how strong we are as a collective or what we can deliver when we stand together.”
He said that although this year’s 12.4% uplift makes only a small amount of real terms progress towards fully reversing the 28.5% pay cut doctors have received since 2008, it represents a start.
“SJDC have achieved what we have by sticking together and through the constant support of members. We’ll be needing that more than ever as we begin the path to full pay restoration from this point forward. I look forward to getting down to work with the Scottish government imminently to start negotiations to improve our working lives, make pay restoration a reality and ensure that as a profession we are never again taken for granted as we have been for the last 15 years, ” he added.
