AQW 3385/17-22

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 09/03/2020
Answered On Date: 20/03/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health why there is a disparity in salary between dental core trainees in Northern Ireland and those in the rest of the UK.

Answer:

Further to my answer to AQW 1112/17-22, pay for medical and dental post-graduate trainees is a devolved matter.

The Department of Health (England) imposed a new contract for hospital trainees in England in 2016. The English contract reduced the number of pay points on the medical and dental trainee payscales, and in so doing revalued those points. Trainees in Northern Ireland have remained on the 2002 contract and corresponding pay framework. Any change to the NI medical contract would be a matter for negotiation between the Department and the BMA.