Hospital Dental Trainees in England will soon receive a pay uplift that will amount to an average increase of 22.3% over the course of two years.
In collaboration and solidarity with their medical colleagues, our members have participated in multiple rounds of industrial action since the beginning of 2023 in support of the pay dispute. Following our and BMA’s sustained campaigning and industrial action over the last two years, the newly elected Westminster Government presented a final pay offer.
We put the offer to our England Hospital Dental Trainees members in a referendum commencing on Monday 19 August and closing on Sunday 15 September. The referendum was run on the same timeline as the BMA’s referendum of Resident Doctors, and we can confirm that 87% of BDA members voted to accept the pay offer.
The BMA negotiates the terms and conditions for all Resident Doctors (formerly known as Junior Doctors) and Hospital Dental Trainees with our input. Informed by the results of our and the BMA’s referendum of relevant members, the BMA formally accepted the Government’s pay offer for Resident Doctors and Hospital Dental Trainees in England.
The pay increase is scheduled to be paid in November 2024 and will include the Doctors’ and Dentists' Review Body pay uplift, which will also be backdated to 1 April 2024. NHS Employers are now working to update their pay circular with full implementation details. This increase to all Hospital Dental Trainees' pay comes after our previous success in securing access to nodal point five of the pay scale for senior trainees.
Our members should be proud that they played their part in giving a clear and unequivocal commitment to the wider pay campaign over a 22 month period, including standing on picket lines with their medical colleagues. Their engagement in the campaign and response to the industrial action was pivotal in securing the offer that has now been accepted. It marks the start of further pay campaigning to address 15 years of pay erosion.