Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Union proposes 12% pay raise as solution to end NHS consultants' strikes

Prime minister Rishi Sunak had previously announced a 6% pay increase for doctors, described as a “final offer”

Union proposes 12% pay raise as solution to end NHS consultants' strikes

The British Medical Association (BMA) consultants committee chairman, Dr Vishal Sharma, has suggested that a pay rise of approximately 12% for NHS consultants could potentially end the ongoing strikes.

Dr Sharma said that any offer above inflation would be sufficient to present to BMA members.


The comments were made in anticipation of a two-day strike by senior doctors across England, beginning today (20). This strike is expected to exacerbate the existing challenges hospitals are confronting due to the ongoing five-day junior doctors' strike, scheduled to conclude on Tuesday.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak had previously announced a 6% pay increase for doctors, described as a "final offer," which could result in an up to £7,000 raise for some consultants, The Telegraph reported.

The BMA responded with anger and dissatisfaction and announced a further 48-hour walkout in August due to the “derisory” pay offer.

Dr Sharma compared the potential offer to the 12.4% increase already accepted by junior doctors in Scotland, suggesting that a similar proposal might be presented for a vote among English consultants.

While consultants in England have not publicly specified their desired figure, they are demanding a "credible offer" and reforms to the independent pay review body.

The consultants argue that their pay has declined by 35 per cent in real terms since 2008.

Dr Sharma said, “Consultants’ pay has been cut more than any other group in the public sector. That’s going over the last 15 years.

“Going into this cost of living crisis we were already very significantly down. We were down far more than other groups.”

The strikes by consultants have caused significant disruption, as no one else can replace their roles.

Hospital leaders warn that these strikes are impeding efforts to reduce the backlog of patients resulting from the Covid pandemic.

The NHS currently has 7.47 million patients waiting for treatment in England.

Despite the ongoing industrial action, the BMA has not ruled out further strikes if their terms are not met, potentially leading to additional cancellations of appointments and operations.

Over 650,000 appointments and operations have already been cancelled due to NHS strikes.

More For You

Zubir Ahmed

Ahmed takes up the role of parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Department of Health and Social Care. (Photo: X/@zubirahmed)

Seema Malhotra and Zubir Ahmed take new posts in junior minister reshuffle

SEEMA MALHOTRA and Dr Zubir Ahmed have been appointed to new ministerial roles as part of Keir Starmer’s reshuffle, which followed Angela Rayner’s resignation as housing secretary and deputy prime minister.

Ahmed takes up the role of parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Department of Health and Social Care.

Keep ReadingShow less
Indian restaurant loses licence after Home Office catches illegal workers

Mumbai Local has been stripped of its licence by Harrow council. (Photo: LDRS/Google Maps)

Indian restaurant loses licence after Home Office catches illegal workers

AN INDIAN restaurant in north London has lost its licence after it was found to have repeatedly employed illegal workers.

Harrow council determined that the evidence suggested that using illegal workers was a “systemic approach” to running the premises and it had a “lack of trust” in the business to comply with the law.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump sees Modi, Putin closer to Xi, but insists US-India ties intact

FILE PHOTO: US president Donald Trump meets with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Trump sees Modi, Putin closer to Xi, but insists US-India ties intact

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said India and Russia seem to have been "lost" to China after their leaders met with Chinese president Xi Jinping this week, expressing his annoyance at New Delhi and Moscow as Beijing pushes a new world order.

"Looks like we've lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!" Trump wrote in a social media post accompanying a photo of the three leaders together at Xi's summit in China.

Keep ReadingShow less
Farage pledges Reform UK election push as Tories, Labour falter

Nigel Farage gestures as he speaks during the party's national conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, Britain, September 5, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

Farage pledges Reform UK election push as Tories, Labour falter

POPULIST leader Nigel Farage vowed to start preparing for government, saying the nation's two main parties were in meltdown and only his Reform UK could ease the anger and despair plaguing the country to "make Britain great again".

To a prolonged standing ovation by a crowd at the annual party conference on Friday (5), Farage for the first time offered a vision of how Britain would be under a Reform government: He pledged to end the arrival of illegal migrants in boats in two weeks, bring back "stop-and-search" policing and scrap net zero policies.

Keep ReadingShow less
Epping protests

The protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping triggered a series of demonstrations across the country during heightened tensions over immigration. (Photo: Getty Images)

Asylum seeker convicted of sex assaults case that led to protests

AN ETHIOPIAN asylum seeker, whose arrest in July led to protests outside a hotel near London where he and other migrants were housed, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and another woman.

The protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, about 20 miles (30 km) from London, triggered a series of demonstrations across the country during heightened tensions over immigration.

Keep ReadingShow less