Medical and dental pay structure
Pay structure
Medical and dental pay is agreed through structured processes involving multiple stakeholders:
Pay review bodies
The Doctors’ and Dentists’ Pay Review Body (DDRB) reviews the annual pay of NHS doctors. We submit evidence to the review body based on information collected from our engagement activities with employers in England. Final decisions on pay awards are made by the government.
Negotiations
Doctors’ pay scales and conditions are negotiated nationally by representatives from the government, trade unions and NHS Employers.
Pay and conditions circulars
The pay and conditions circulars (medical and dental) set out pay for hospital medical and dental staff, doctors and dentists in public health, the community health service and salaried primary dental care (England). These are published every time there is a change to medical and dental pay. Access the pay and conditions circulars on our web page.
Pay increases
Contracts | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Associate specialist and specialty doctor 2008 | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 3% | 3% | 4.5%* | 6%* |
Consultants | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 3% | 4.5%* | 6%* |
2016 doctors and dentists contract |
|
|
| 1% | 1% | 1.5% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2%* | 8.2%* | 6%* |
Associate specialist pre-2008 | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 3% | 3% | 4.5%* | 6%* |
Specialty doctor and specialist 2021 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3% | 3% | 4.5%* | 6%* |
*The annual pay award is influenced by negotiations.
Recent negotiated pay deals
Doctors and dentists in training
On 16 September 2024, the BMA Resident Doctor Committee (formerly the BMA Junior Doctors Committee) accepted the pay offer designed to reform the pay for resident doctors and include measures to improve their experiences in England.
Specialty and specialist doctors (SAS)
On 18 June 2024, the BMA accepted the pay offer designed to address the imbalance between old and new contracts, speed up the delivery of some of the key objectives of the 2021 deal, and encourage more SAS doctors to take up new contracts.
Consultants
On 5 April 2024, the BMA and HCSA accepted the pay offer designed to modernise the consultant pay structure. The offer reflects modern working practices by offering enhanced shared parental leave, in line with other NHS staff.
Pay progression
Each contract has a pay scale through which the doctors will progress. SAS and consultant doctors have pay progression criteria that they must achieve to enable them to progress to the next pay-affecting threshold. This is described within their contract. We have published guidance to support employers with pay progression processes for these two groups of doctors.
The composition of earnings
In addition to basic pay, other forms of payments are available in the different contracts, these can include:
On-call availability allowances
Payable only to doctors working on-call rotas
Less-than-full-time (LTFT) allowance
A doctor who is training less than full time will be paid an annual allowance. This allowance will be paid on top of the doctor’s salary and will be spread over the year, paid in monthly instalments.
Flexible pay premia
Payments made to certain medical trainees in the UK to encourage recruitment and retention in specialities that are hard to fill.
National Clinical Impact Awards
The national Clinical Impact Awards scheme, previously known as the national Clinical Excellence Awards.
Extra contractual work
A doctor can also complete extra-contractual work which is outside of their contracted hours or job plan.
Further information
Further in-depth information can be found on our medical and dental pay and contracts web page.
Our medical staffing hub provides information and resources for medical staffing teams, that provide an operational service to NHS organisations' medical and dental workforce.
