Resident doctors in England call off strike after government makes last-minute pay offer

The last-minute offer

The British Medical Association (BMA) announced on Saturday that resident doctors in England had called off a planned four-day strike after the government presented a new pay offer. The walkout, scheduled to run from 7am on Monday 15 June to Friday 19 June, would have been the 16th round of industrial action since 2023. A BMA statement said the offer was "last-minute" and would now be put to a referendum of members.

“We have always been clear that no strikes needed to go ahead if we received an offer appropriate to put to our members.”

Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee, said the union would hold up its end of the bargain when the government shifted position. The offer is understood to include standard 2016 contract terms for all locally employed doctors and an average 6.6% pay uplift to be fully implemented by April 2027.

Government and union reactions

Health Secretary James Murray welcomed the suspension as a positive development for patients, adding that after a 28.9% pay rise for resident doctors over the last three years, "the country simply cannot afford to increase the pay offer for this year". The BMA stressed that tens of thousands of frontline doctors would now vote in a referendum on whether the offer was sufficient.

“All we have asked for is a fair offer that secures enough jobs to tackle the madness of doctor unemployment and take steps to address the erosion of our pay.”

What happens next

If members reject the offer, Dr Fletcher warned, the BMA would continue plans for further escalated action across next month. The NHS had been bracing for a "triple whammy of pressure", according to Prof Frankie Swords, national medical director at NHS England, with the strike coinciding with warm weather and the World Cup.

The broader dispute

The suspended walkout was the latest in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. The previous 15 rounds of industrial action since 2023 had already placed strain on NHS services. The 6.6% average uplift, combined with this year's pay review body recommendation, represents an attempt to break the deadlock without further strikes.