Doctors to Receive 2.8% Pay Rise in England and Wales

Liaison Workforce

Doctors in England and Wales will both receive a 2.8% pay rise, the UK and Welsh Governments have announced.

In England, the pay will be backdated to April 2020, with the pay award being worth between £2,200 and £3,000 for consultants.

Announcing the increase, Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, said:

“These past few months have been an incredibly challenging time for our NHS, and the resolve, professionalism and dedication of staff has been on show throughout. We are able to accept the recommendations of the independent pay review body for dentists and doctors.

“I am committed to supporting the entire NHS and social care workforce through improved recruitment and retention and delivering 50,000 more nurses and 6,000 more doctors in general practice.”

Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Vaughan Gething MS, also stated:

“I am pleased to announce that I will accept the recommendations of the Doctors and Dentists Review Body in full. This includes a base increase of 2.8% to all groups of doctors and dentists. This increase is well-deserved recognition for our hardworking doctors and dentists, and their contribution to the NHS in Wales.

“The Welsh Government is committed to supporting our NHS workforce, who have once again proved their dedication and commitment by delivering excellent health care in very difficult circumstances recently.”

Responding to the news, the British Medical Association said the pay increase did not “sufficiently acknowledge” the dedication shown by doctors during the pandemic, pointing out that junior doctors and GPs will continue to receive contractually agreed pay increases.

BMA council chair, Chaand Nagpaul, also expressed concern that the failure to reflect the efforts undertaken by doctors to manage and treat COVID-19 in the recent pay announcement risked doctors feeling under-appreciated.

Additional information

The NHS pay rise announcements for England and Wales can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nhs-doctors-and-dentists-to-receive-2-8-pay-rise

For annual information on NHS pay and commission, take a look at our ‘Taking the Temperature’ reports. The research in our NHS pay reports looks at pay and commission rates booked by all of the trusts using Liaison Workforce’s service – TempRE. The quarterly and annual reports compare results by type, specialty and region.