Council Discussion on Pay Strategy

The BMA member survey (criticised in a previous post) came back with predictable results – the profession in England is angry at continued pay cuts. Perhaps due to the lack of campaigning on the long-term impacts of pay cuts, our original pay demand (RPI+2%) or the context of the DDRB recommendation; or perhaps because it was better than the government attempt, members considered the DDRB recommendation to be a more acceptable option.Whilst we have used the survey results to express our anger, we are now concerned that it will now be used to justify asking for only backdating of the government offer, or that, even worse, the BMA will use the delay to justify doing nothing.The responses of the Branch of Practice committees are very important, along with the responses of the devolved nations, who have had different offers, or lack an offer yet. However, these have largely focused on the question of the DDRB itself, and whether to engage with the process of 'independent' pay review in the future.At Council today, we will argue for an indicative ballot of our members, preceded and accompanied by a strong communication campaign to engage and inform members on pay.