Doctors urged to call off strikes as Sunak agrees public sector rise

Will doctors now end their callous strikes? Teaching unions recommend schools action is called off after Sunak agrees public sector rises of up to 7%

  • Doctors on Thursday began a five-day walkout – the longest in NHS history
  • The Prime Minister has announced pay increases in a £5billion gamble 

Doctors were urged to call off their strikes last night after millions of public sector workers were offered a bumper pay rise.

In a £5billion gamble, Rishi Sunak announced increases of up to 7 per cent, in line with independent advice.

Teaching unions responded positively, saying they would ask their members to end their wave of classroom strikes in return for a 6.5 per cent pay hike.

But doctors’ leaders, who are demanding a 35 per cent uplift, rejected a 6 per cent deal. Phil Banfield of the British Medical Association claimed his members were ‘in this for the long run’.

Mr Sunak urged them to put patients first, saying they would not get a penny more, however long they stayed on strike.

Doctors were urged to call off their strikes last night after millions of public sector workers were offered a bumper pay rise. Pictured: Doctors striking outside the Royal London Hospital on Thursday

In a £5billion gamble, Rishi Sunak announced increases of up to 7 per cent, in line with independent advice

Doctors yesterday began a five-day walkout – the longest in the history of the NHS – despite warnings it would endanger patients and lead to the loss of tens of thousands of operations and appointments.

The Prime Minister appealed to the BMA to help ‘make the NHS strong again’ by returning to work. He said his 6 per cent offer – funded from existing budgets and higher visa charges for foreign workers – was ‘take it or leave it’. 

He insisted: ‘Today’s offer is final, there will be no more talks on pay. We will not negotiate again on this year’s settlements, and no amount of strikes will change our decision.

‘How can it be right to continue disruptive industrial action? Not least because these strikes lead to tens of thousands of appointments being cancelled – every single day and waiting lists going up, not down.’

The pay offer came as:

  • Mr Sunak played down fears that the record rises would fuel inflation;
  • Police and civil service unions welcomed the pay offer, but prison officers warned it was not good enough;
  • NHS waiting lists hit a record high of almost 7.5million;
  • The Royal College of Nursing reacted angrily after settling for a lower 5 per cent rise earlier this year;
  • Ministers were accused of using migrant workers as ‘cash cows’ to fund the hikes;
  • An official report found that 10 per cent of people have resorted to ‘DIY dentistry’ because of the crisis in NHS services;
  • NHS chiefs warned that frontline services could be cut, after the Treasury confirmed there would be no new money for pay.

Doctors yesterday began a five-day walkout – the longest in the history of the NHS

Ministers have decided to honour the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies in full following weeks of Cabinet wrangling on the issue.

Police and prison officer pay will rise by 7 per cent, teachers by 6.5 per cent, consultants and junior doctors by 6 per cent and the armed forces by 5-6 per cent.

Mr Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt initially resisted the bumper pay awards amid fears they would stoke inflation, which stands at 8.7 per cent. 

The Prime Minister has pledged to bring inflation to below 5.35 per cent by the end of this year – a lower figure than the new salary deals.

But he was persuaded that the gamble was the best chance of ending the wave of strike action that has continued through the winter and spring and into summer.

Mr Sunak insisted the deal was ‘not going to be inflationary because we’re not borrowing to fund it’. Government sources said it would cost £2billion more than has been budgeted for this year, along with a further £3billion next year. 

Departments will have to find savings of around £1billion a year, but the PM insisted it was ‘not about cuts, it’s just about focusing on public sector workers’ pay rather than other things’.

Visa fees for foreign workers will rise sharply in the hope of clawing back a further £1billion a year. 

Mr Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt initially resisted the bumper pay awards amid fears they would stoke inflation

The Immigration Health Surcharge paid by foreign workers to access the NHS will jump from £624 a year to £1,035. Visa fees will rise by up to 20 per cent.

Police Federation national chairman Steve Hartshorn said the 7 per cent rise was ‘a step in the right direction’. The FDA union, which represent senior civil servants, described the plan as ‘fair and reasonable’.

The Royal College of Nursing said it was ‘unfair’ that nurses and other NHS staff had been given only a 5 per cent rise.

RCN chief Pat Cullen said: ‘The Prime Minister will have to explain to over a million outraged NHS workers why they are getting the lowest pay rise in the public sector.’

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘Unless this increase is funded in full, this announcement does nothing more than wield an axe to the NHS’s already constrained budget.’

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