Three years of walkouts that cancelled hundreds of thousands of appointments are over. Resident doctors in England have voted to accept the government's pay and jobs offer, bringing an end to a bitter dispute that saw repeated rounds of strikes across the NHS.
In a referendum with a 57% turnout, 53% of eligible British Medical Association members voted in favour – 32,932 doctors in total. The deal includes a 3.5% pay rise this year, backdated to 1 April 2026, which the government says is worth an average increase of 4.9% under the wider package. That will grow to an average of 6.6% by April 2027, with further increases expected.
“Resident doctors in England voted 53% in favour of a pay deal, ending three years of strikes.”
Starting salaries will climb to just over £40,000, while the most senior resident doctors will earn £76,500 in basic pay – and thousands more for unsociable hours and extra shifts. The offer also promises 4,500 additional training places for newly qualified doctors and covers out-of-pocket expenses such as exam fees.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee, said the strikes should never have happened. "We spent far too long at loggerheads with the government when a solution in everyone's interest was waiting for us: more jobs for doctors, better pay for doctors, and a better-staffed NHS secured for patients well into the future," he said.
Health and Social Care Secretary James Murray described drawing a line under the disruption as good news for resident doctors, patients and the NHS as a whole. The dispute had left patients facing cancelled appointments and strained services across England.
Resident doctors – the term replaced "junior doctors" in September 2024 to better reflect their expertise – are qualified doctors who have completed a medical degree. They make up nearly half of all doctors in England, working in A&E, GP surgeries and other frontline settings. After their initial degree and two years of foundation training, many choose to specialise.
The resolution in England does not extend across the UK. In Scotland, resident doctors have already accepted a pay offer. In Wales, disputes over pay and training are still being resolved without strike action. But in Northern Ireland, resident doctors began a 24-hour strike at 07:00 BST on 29 June – the same day their English colleagues voted to end their long-running industrial action.