Doctors in England call off strikes after last-minute offer in long-running dispute

Resident doctors in England have called off strikes that were due to start next week after a last-minute government offer, their unions said on Saturday, raising the prospect of ending a long-running pay and staffing dispute.

The walkout had been scheduled to run from Monday to Friday. It would have been the 16th in a series of stoppages since 2023 over what the union called years of pay erosion and staffing pressures across the National Health Service. The dispute began under the previous Conservative government.

The British Medical Union said it would hold a referendum on the offer and suspend strike action while the vote takes place. It represents about 55,000 of England's roughly 75,000 resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors.

"We have always been clear that no strikes needed to go ahead if we received an offer appropriate to put to our members," committee chair Jack Fletcher said, adding that doctors would judge the proposal on whether it tackles pay erosion and workforce concerns, including unemployment among trainees.

Fletcher said doctors would vote on the offer. If they reject it, he warned, the union would move ahead with plans for strike action next month.

A PATH TO SETTLEMENT

The offer includes a 3.5% pay rise this year as recommended by an independent review body, with the Department of Health saying resident doctors would see an average increase of about 4.9% under the wider package.

The pay rise would grow to an average 6.6% by April 2027, with a further increase to follow, the union said.

Health minister James Murray welcomed the decision to suspend strikes, saying the deal "represents a chance to draw a line under damaging disputes of recent years and usher in a new period of industrial peace."

It would have been the 16th time resident doctors had staged a walkout in the long-running dispute, which has continued under the governing Labour Party elected in 2024.

Resident doctors have received pay rises totalling 33.4% over the past four years, including this year's 3.5% increase, which the BMA had said was still a fifth lower than in 2008 after inflation.

The revised offer includes 4,500 training places over three years to ease a jobs backlog, annual progression for part-time doctors who qualify, and higher extra pay for medical academics, the union said.

(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar and Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Matthew Lewis and David Gregorio)