Junior doctors in Cumbria are voting whether to accept the new pay deal offered by the government.

Last month, the Government made a pay offer following almost 18 months of strike action and the junior doctor committee is recommending members accept the deal.

Junior doctors in Cumbria walked out for more than 20 days during the strike action and hundreds of procedures and appointments were cancelled or postponed by the health service.

The new offer for junior doctors in England is worth 22.3 per cent on average over two years with the BMA previously asking for 35 per cent.

If accepted, the deal will see junior doctors’ pay rise by between 3.71 per cent and 5.05 per cent – averaging 4.05 per cent – on top of their existing pay award for 2023/24. This will be backdated to April 2023.

Each part of the pay scale will also be uplifted by 6 per cent, plus £1,000, as recommended by the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB), with an effective date of April 1, 2024.

Both rises mean a doctor starting foundation training in the NHS will see base pay increase to £36,600, up from about £32,400.

The junior doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said: “We are recommending our members vote “yes” to this offer.

“It is an offer which represents the first step towards restoring junior doctors’ pay after more than a decade of cuts.

“It does not amount to full pay restoration, but it is an opportunity to bank our progress this year and build on it next year – an opportunity we believe is the right one to take. Accepting the deal moves us further along our journey to full pay restoration.

READ MORE: 150 outpatient appointments postponed due to junior doctors' strike

"Due to severe pay cuts, we’ve undergone, we would still be 20.8 per cent behind inflation.

“With the Government acknowledgment of our pay falling behind inflation and discussion of a journey to fair pay, we have made it very clear to them that if that journey gets off track, doctors will be back in dispute next year.”

“Make no mistake that we are determined to restore the pay that has been lost to real terms cuts since 2008. But we never said this would be in one year. This represents a solid base: we hope members will vote yes to this deal so we can start building from here.”

The referendum closes on September 15.