The dentists and doctors' trade unions have made a joint call to overhaul the present pay review process led by the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB).

Both the BDA and BMA (British Medical Association) said the DDRB's role to guarantee the independence of pay awards had been eroded over time and the current process was no longer acceptable to their professions.

GDPs in England still do not have clarity on whether the anticipated 2% uplift will be delivered from 1 October, added the BDA.

In a joint statement issued on 27 September 2018, both associations set out key principles they said needed to underpin the reform process, raising these issues directly to government in open letters to Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock.

Currently, the DDRB advises governments in Westminster, Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh on rates of pay for doctors and dentists. It was established in 1960 following a recommendation of the Royal Commission on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration.

The Commission stated that such a body was necessary in order to give the medical and dental professions 'some assurance that their standards of living will not be depressed by arbitrary Government action', as well as achieving 'the settlement of remuneration without public dispute.'

The view expressed by the Royal Commission was that this procedure would 'give the professions a valuable safeguard' because their remuneration would be determined, in practice, by a group of independent persons of standing and authority not committed to the Government's point of view.

Each year, both the BDA and BMA provide evidence to the DDRB as part of the process for determining the annual pay uplift for dentists and doctors.

However, the view of the unions now was that the DDRB process had been gradually modified beyond recognition from its original purpose, they said in their statement to Hancock.

It says: 'The BDA has issued a joint statement with the BMA calling for fundamental reform of the pay review process for dentists and doctors, on the basis of the following principles:

  • Restitution of the DDRB's independence and return to its original purpose

  • Revision of its terms of reference to narrow the DDRB's focus purely on pay uplifts rather than making recommendations on wider contractual matters

  • Clear timetables for submission of evidence and publications of the report, and an undertaking that government(s) must not fetter the parameters of the DDRB's recommendations

  • Re-establishment of the undertaking that government(s) will respect and implement the DDRB's recommendations.