The research, by Nuffield Trust, says these ebbs and flows are ‘problematic as people are typically loss-averse, feeling the downside of real-terms cuts more acutely than the upside of real-terms increases'.

The analysis reveals that since 2023, the pay scales of resident doctors and consultants have started to increase again in real terms after a fall of more than a decade. Looking even further back to the late nineties and early noughties, they have fared well compared to inflation, the figures reveal.

In addition, the data shows that the basic salaries for resident doctors are higher in England than in Wales and Northern Ireland - with Scotland yet to publish a 2025/26 pay scale.

However, the doctors' pay review body reported that non-basic pay - comprising 28-33% of total resident doctors' earnings - was lower than in Wales (at 32-44%), Northern Ireland (47-62%) and Scotland (84%).

The Nuffield Trust analysis also reveals that:

• For the year to March 2026, resident doctors starting postgraduate training (foundation year 1) will have a full-time basic salary of £38,831, and it is estimated that they will receive around £45,900 in total NHS earnings
• Even after accounting for these latest uplifts, average real-terms earnings for all doctors in 2025/26 still fall behind 2010/11 levels by between 4% and 10%
• For 2024/25, the average NHS earnings of doctors in their first year of work was above the median, so more than the majority of all workers in the wider economy, but below the (mean) average wage.
• Specialty registrars' average NHS earnings were higher than the salaries of nearly nine in 10 of the wider workforce, while GP partner and consultants' NHS earnings sat between the 98th and 99th percentiles.