The government of Scotland offers junior doctors a 14.5% pay rise 

Junior doctors in Scotland have proposed a 14.5% pay increase.

The new proposal from the Scottish government, which has two years, was made after talks with BMA Scotland. The union will now confer its members, who voted in favour of strike action before this month, on the offer.

BMA Scotland emphasised it had not agreed to the improved value but said it would be the best the Scottish government would give.

Ministers said they offered a £61.3m investment in junior doctor salary, which they defined as the biggest in 20 years and the best offer in the UK.

The government said that if taken, there would be a pay increase of 6.5% in 2023/24 and an extra 3% towards an already decided 4.5% uplift in 2022/23.

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This amounts to incremental growth of 14.5% over two years and compares the recent pay award taken by nurses and other NHS workers in 2023.

BMA Scotland members had earlier voted in favour of staging a 72-hour strike. The association has been asking for a 23.5% rise above inflation.

Around 71% of the eligible 5,000 junior doctors in Scotland voted in that poll, with 97% favouring industrial activity.

Scotland’s Health Secretary Michael Matheson said he was “happy” to have reached an arrangement with the BMA Scotland after weeks of intense talks.