BMA staff escalate pay dispute following 'disappointing' offer

Staff at the British Medical Association (BMA) have escalated their dispute with their employer following a ‘disappointing’ revised pay offer.

Staff at the British Medical Association (BMA) have escalated their dispute with their employer following a ‘disappointing’ revised pay offer.

The new offer from BMA management made no meaningful movement on a consolidated pay rise of 2 per cent and only offered minor improvements:

• An increase to the non-consolidated payment from £1250 to £1,500
• An additional day’s leave at Christmas, taking the total to 4 extra days leave

According to BMA management, the overall cash impact of the pay award ranges from 3.2 per cent to 16.31 per cent, with the additional days off representing a further 1.2 per cent.

GMB Union, which represents around 75 per cent of BMA staff, dispute these figures, as not only do they include both consolidated and non-consolidated pay, – something the BMA would never accept for doctors – they also do not use last year’s total pay as a baseline.

The 16 per cent is for a very small minority of senior managers and addresses a long-standing issue of pay progression. It is in no way linked to a cost of living increase.

GMB calculate the real terms increase of in-year total pay as now being just 1.90-1.98 per cent compared to 2025 total pay.

A GMB rep working for the BMA said:

"It's disappointing that BMA management are now resorting to placing a percentage pay value on Christmas days off.

“Perhaps the ghost of Christmas future is lurking in the corridors of BMA House, the site of Charles Dickens’ former home!

“We remain committed to seeking a credible offer to reflect inflation and a resolution to address years of pay erosion, just as resident doctors are rightly doing for their own pay."