Resident doctor strikes called off as vote to be held on government offer

Danny Lawson/PA Wire

By Adele Waters

Strikes planned to begin on Monday by resident doctors have been cancelled after a last-minute offer from the government.

The four-day strike — due to begin at 7am on Monday — was called off to allow the BMA’s UK resident doctors committee (UKRDC) to put the offer to tens of thousands of frontline doctors in a referendum vote.

If they accept the offer, resident doctors in England will get an average 6.6% pay uplift, fully delivered by April 2027, and a further uplift in April 2027 following the DDRB recommendation.

In addition, the government has pledged to create 4,500 specialty training places over the next three years to tackle the jobs bottleneck.

Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of RDC, said: “We have always been clear that no strikes needed to go ahead if we received an offer appropriate to put to our members. This should not have been left to the last moment, but we hold up our end of the bargain when the government shifts its position.