![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/7d492a50-ed57-11f0-9a85-e3d7b5e64ff7.jpg.webp.webp\")
Getty Images<\/p>\nGetty Images<\/p>\n
The British Medical Association union is recommending members accept a ew pay deal<\/p>\n
Scotland’s resident doctors have called off a planned four-day strike over pay.<\/p>\n
They had been set to go on the first national walkout staged by NHS workers on Tuesday, having accused ministers of going back on promises<\/a> over pay. <\/p>\n But after further negotiations, the British Medical Association union is to suspend the strike and put a fresh pay offer to members – and is recommending that it is accepted. <\/p>\n Health secretary Neil Gray said it was “great news” which would avoid disruption to patient care.<\/p>\n Resident doctors – who used to be called junior doctors – make up about 42% of all Scotland’s doctors and range from newly qualified doctors to those with 10 years or more experience.<\/p>\n Members will now consider an offer of a 4.25% pay rise in 2025-26, followed by a 3.75% increase in 2026-27.<\/p>\n The pay deal offered by the Scottish government matches one already accepted by nurses and other healthcare staff, and was previously rejected by the BMA last year.<\/p>\n However it now comes alongside a separate package of contractual reform.<\/p>\n The offer would see the basic pay for a newly qualified doctor rise from \u00a334,500 to \u00a337,345 for 2026\/27 and for a doctor with 10 years experience rise from \u00a371,549 to \u00a377,387.<\/p>\n Gray said the deal had been struck following “days of intensive and constructive talks” between the government and the union.<\/p>\n He added that total investment in the offer – covering both pay and contract reform over the two-year period – will be \u00a3133m.<\/p>\n He said: “This avoids the cancelled operations and disruption to patient care that no one, including resident doctors, wanted to see.”<\/p>\n ‘Days of talks’<\/p>\n Dr Chris Smith, who chairs BMA Scotland’s resident doctors committee, said strike action had been a “last resort” for the union, and that the new offer would guarantee future improvements for staff.<\/p>\n He said: “Our view is the substantial investment proposed continues the progress made to reverse the pay erosion resident doctors have suffered since 2008.<\/p>\n “Coming in the shape of new funding into our contract means that if accepted, this deal embeds improvements for doctors for the future.<\/p>\n “It will provide much needed impetus into delivering a new contract for resident doctors that was a key part of the deal agreed with the Scottish Government in 2023.”<\/p>\n Smith added that the deal would make “real progress” towards righting the “historic wrong” of pay erosion for staff over the past two decades.<\/p>\n The BMA previously said<\/a> the deal would have been the lowest in the UK and was less than was recommended by the independent pay review body.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/32c38af0-ed5e-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.png.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n