Hospital dental trainees receive pay increase

Hospital dental trainees in England to receive pay uplift after strike action

The new pay uplift promises to mitigate a trend of below inflation pay awards over recent years. (Image: S Eirich/Shutterstock)

Dental Tribune International

Fri. 18 October 2024

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LONDON, England: After two years of sustained industrial action, hospital dental trainees in England have voted to accept a government offer to increase their pay. Orchestrated by the British Medical Association (BMA) in close collaboration with the British Dental Association (BDA), the campaign of strikes and negotiations sought to address pay awards that were incommensurate with steep inflation rates and a corresponding rise in the price of living.

At the heart of the matter is the official BDA statistic that from 2008/2009 to 2020/2021 real pay for a typical National Health Service dentist in England, considered against inflation, fell by 37%, from £67,800 to £42,847 (€50,178^*). This significant economic erosion motivated a concerted campaign of industrial action, including a strike last year, in which BDA members from 15 NHS trusts across the country participated.

In response to these persistent efforts by the BDA together with the BMA, the government presented an offer to these organisations in July that would see the pay of hospital dental trainees, alongside their junior medical colleagues, increased across the two years of the dispute at an average of 22.3%. With this offer in hand, the BMA and BDA jointly conducted referendums among their junior members between August and September. The response of dental trainees was overwhelmingly positive, 87% of BDA members voting to accept the pay offer. Informed by the referendums’ results, the BMA formally accepted the government’s pay offer for resident doctors and hospital dental trainees in England.

The wage increase is scheduled to be paid in November 2024. The BDA has made it clear that this outcome marks not the culmination but only the beginning of further action to address lagging income increases in the industry.