The British Medical Association said the government was "driving doctors away" from the NHS and had missed a chance to put a credible pay offer on the table to end strikes when it accepted all the recommendations of the pay review bodies.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), whose members were offered 5% in separate talks, accused ministers of taking a "cavalier" approach to pay when 100,000 nurses had voted to continue strike action in the latest ballot. "Today's news will only add to that number," it said.
The government has been contending with the most widespread public sector strikes in decades as workers demand higher pay to help them through the cost of living crisis.
Health services, including outpatient appointments, have been hit by the unprecedented five-day junior doctors' strike that began yesterday, while consultants are due to take industrial action next week.
Millions of public sector workers in England, including teachers, police officers and prison officers, have been offered a pay rise of between 5% and 7% but, as revealed by the Guardian on Tuesday, Whitehall departments have been told to fund the rise from existing budgets.
In a boost for Sunak, however, education unions said they were recommending teachers accept a 6.5% offer, which came with a guarantee that it would be funded not from the existing schools budget but from elsewhere in the department.
This story is from the July 14, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the July 14, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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