Why are resident doctors striking and how much are they paid?
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Why are resident doctors striking and how much are they paid?
27 May 2026
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Resident doctors in England will strike for four days in June - the 16th walkout in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions.
The BMA, which represents doctors, criticised the new Health Secretary for displaying "the same unwillingness to move" as his predecessor, but James Murray said the union's demands were "unrealistic, unaffordable and unsustainable".
The NHS urged patients not to put off seeking help during previous strikes, telling those with emergency and urgent needs to use 999 and 111 as normal.
Resident doctors to strike for 16th time over pay
Who are resident doctors, previously called junior doctors?
Resident doctors are qualified doctors who have completed a medical degree.
They make up nearly half of all doctors in England, and work across the NHS including in A&E and GP surgeries.
After their initial degree and the mandatory two years of post-graduate foundation training, many choose to specialise in a particular area of medicine or surgery.
They used to be known as junior doctors, but in September 2024 the government agreed to change the name of their role to better reflect their expertise.
Full training can take a long time, so although some resident doctors may have only recently finished medical school, others could have more than a decade of practical experience and be responsible for most aspects of care.
How much do resident doctors earn?
During their first foundation year after finishing their medical degree, resident doctors in England earn a basic salary of just over £40,000.
After several years, the most senior resident doctors get £76,500 in basic pay.
Medics are often expected to work night shifts, weekends and longer hours, for which they receive extra payments on top of their base salary.
In 2023 and 2024, resident doctors received pay rises totalling 22%, and got an additional 5.4% in 2025.
Pay rose by 3.5% in April 2026 as part of the annual settlement for all doctors.
What are the resident doctors' pay demands?
The BMA has called a series of strikes in England over pay and working conditions since 2023.
Despite receiving pay rises worth 33% over the past four years, the union argues that doctors are still being paid a fifth less than they were in 2008 once inflation is taken into account.
The government uses the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation to calculate public sector pay increases.
However, the BMA says many resident doctors have large student loans and that interest on these is calculated using a different inflation measure called RPI, which is higher.
Using the CPI measure, the government has repeatedly said resident doctors' current pay is fair.
What have the BMA and the government said about the dispute?
The latest strikes will run from 0700 BST on Monday 15 June until 0659 BST on Friday 19 June - with further dates possible in July if negotiations do not progress.
BMA resident doctor leader Dr Jack Fletcher said that Murray had wasted "a genuine opportunity to break this logjam with fresh energy and ambition".
"Instead, we are hearing the same tired line: vagueness on new jobs and no further money on the table," he added.
In response Murray criticised the BMA for rushing to what he called "unnecessary and unreasonable strike action".
He repeated the line from former Health Secretary Wes Streeting that resident doctors' 33.4% pay rise over the last four years was the highest anywhere across the public sector, and that further substantial increases were not on the table.
As part of a package of measures, ministers previously promised to accelerate the expansion of specialist training posts, which resident doctors move into in their third year of training.
In 2025, there were more than 30,000 applicants for 10,000 of these jobs - some from abroad.
The government said it would increase the number of posts by 4,000 by 2028 – with the first 1,000 available in 2026 – and would let the NHS prioritise doctors who had studied and worked in the UK.
It also offered to cover some out-of-pocket expenses such as exam fees as well as ensuring faster pay progression through the five salary bands that span training.
When the BMA ended talks in March because it said the deal had been watered-down at the last minute, the government withdrew the offer of the additional 1,000 posts.
Polling from YouGov before the April strikes suggested that 53% of people opposed the industrial action, while 38% supported it.
Doctors lose new jobs package as strike to go ahead
Streeting denies changing pay deal for resident doctors
Doctors' strikes can have surprising benefits - but are they sustainable?
What were patients advised to do during previous strikes?
The NHS said patients should continue to come forward for care during strike periods.
Those with emergencies were told to use 999 and 111 as normal, and senior medics were drafted in to provide cover.
For urgent, non-life-threatening issues, the advice was to use the NHS 111 website or to call the helpline.
Patients who had planned appointments and treatments scheduled were told to attend unless they were advised otherwise. GP services were largely unaffected.
Hospitals have been told they should only cancel routine appointments in exceptional circumstances.
But some appointments and operations were disrupted.
In a letter to health managers after the first day of the April strike, NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey said the NHS was coping well, and was in "as good a place as we could hope".
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not been affected by these strikes.
Don't put off treatment during doctors' strike, NHS tells patients
Hospitals coping well with doctors' strike so far - NHS boss
Health
Wes Streeting
Doctors
British Medical Association (BMA)
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Strike action
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