Doctors union tops up £1m reserve pot for strikes
The trade union for doctors has stashed away hundreds of thousands of pounds more to fund future strike action despite posting another year of losses, new accounts reveal.
The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents over 200,000 doctors and students, put aside around £300,000 more funds towards its reserve for industrial action last year, according to the newly filed accounts.
The union now has over £1.3m reserved to help staff walk out over pay and working conditions. This came after around £2.1m was committed to industrial action and pay campaigns over 2025.
The top-up came despite the group recording a loss of £2.4m after tax in 2025.
New accounts reveal the union’s preparedness to take drastic action against the government and force health officials into agreeing deals with doctors. The union’s treasurer Dr Peter Holden added that there were “contingency plans” in place to fund long-term strikes.
Fewer consultant and resident doctors signed up to the controversial union last year although the wider membership grew slightly, with doctors winning the government round after a “highly successful” string of strikes.
A BMA spokesperson said: “As the trade union for doctors and medical students in the UK, industrial action is an important, legal and effective tool that we have at our disposal for winning positive change for our members, and something that we are proud to continue investing in.”
Tax hikes cover uplift in spending on doctors
Doctors have set up picket lines in several rounds of strike action since July 2025.
In June, the government and the BMA finally agreed on a pay deal for resident doctors, who are often still in training before taking up specialisms. It means that pay will be about 35.2 per cent higher on average compared to four years ago, even as tight public finances have contributed to tax rises worth about £65bn in the last two years.
The Labour government offered health and social care one of the biggest budget boosts at last year’s Spending Review, with annual growth in expenditure averaging at 2.8 per cent. Health receives more than double the amount of taxpayer cash as education, the second largest area of state spending.
This year, the government is projected to spend around £225bn on health and social care compared to £106bn on education and around £65bn on defence.
In negotiations with the government, BMA officials have used RPI inflation, the less reliable measure which tends to run higher than the more-widely used reading of CPI inflation, when considering “pay restoration” demands.
They also use 2008 as a baseline for when they believe doctors were paid fairly although government officials have disputed its use.
Union under scrutiny
Last month, it was reported that the BMA was threatening to axe up to a third of its entire workforce amid concerns about losses. Bosses told The Guardian that as few as 20 staff would lose their jobs. A statement said changes to staff were aimed at reducing BMA’s “deficit”.
Accounts for 2025 show that the BMA’s headcount increased over the year and remained above 1,000.
The doctors’ union has found itself caught up in a string of controversies stretching beyond healthcare over recent months.
Former health secretary Wes Streeting accused the BMA of being “impossible” in negotiations over working conditions for GPs and said they had issued “misleading” information.
Comrades at the top of the organisation also came under scrutiny from leading health professionals over its opposition to the Cass review on gender identity while a Jewish medical group hit out at the BMA over its rejection of a definition for antisemitism.
One of the country’s largest unions, GMB, has also criticised the BMA over its pay offer to working staff.