Responding to the government's acceptance of the recommendations of the Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (AFPRB) on pay for the Armed Forces for 2022-23, Colonel Mark Weir, British Medical Association armed forces committee chair, and surgeon-captain Mike Gall, British Dental Association armed forces committee chair said, "Armed forces doctors and dentists have once again been penalised for their military status.
"Following 2021's pay pause, we expected a pay offer that would go some way to redress the disparity between the awards provided to doctors and dentists in uniform and their civilian counterparts in the NHS. While the 4.5 per cent offered to many NHS doctors and dentists also falls well below current rates of inflation, the fact that we have once again been met with a separate, poorer pay award is absurd and unjust.
"The AFPRB's recommendation for a 3.75 per cent pay increase in the face of run-away inflation and over a decade of pay erosion is, once again, a recommendation for a real-terms pay cut. The government knows this to be true.
"Military doctors and dentists provide a vital service to this country. They have proved their worth throughout the pandemic, leading the acceleration of the national vaccination programme, playing a crucial part in the establishment of Nightingale hospitals, and providing support to civilian authorities, and continue to promote national security by providing treatment to the armed forces both at home and deployed overseas.
"This pay offer will do nothing to boost morale. It may well leave doctors and dentists questioning whether they wish to continue serving, with all its sacrifices, when there are so many opportunities to work as a doctor or dentist outside of the Ministry of Defence in 2022."