Resident Doctors, and Dentists in Training Pay Award

Frequently Asked Questions
Resident Doctors, and Dentists in Training Pay Award

2023/2024 (Addendum) – Revised Pay Values

2024/2025 – Pay Award Implementation

Section 1: Pay Rates

1. What is the pay award and am I due to receive it?

The Department of Health have released pay arrangements for Resident Doctors, and Dentists in Training (RDDiT), as follows:

(i) An addendum to the 2023/2024 Medical & Dental Pay Circular.

This follows resolution to the pay dispute and reflects revised pay values (Table 1), which provide for a 4.05% uplift for eligible staff, effective from 01 April 2023.

Table 1: Addendum – Resident Doctors, and Dentists in Training (2002 contract)

(ii) The 2024/2025 Medical & Dental Pay Circular, confirming salary scales for Resident Doctors, and Dentists in Training, which have resulted in basic salary being increased by 6% 01 from April 2024 (Table 2), plus a consolidated increase of £1,000 as per the DDRB recommendation.

Table 2: Circular – Resident Doctors, and Dentists in Training (2002 contract)

These pay awards apply only to Resident Doctors, Dentists in Training, and locally employed doctors who are employed under the Hospital Medical & Dental Staff and Doctors in Public Health Medicine and the Community Health Service (NI) Terms and Conditions of Service 2008.

2. When is the pay award effective from?

(i) The increase arising from the revised 2023/2024 pay values, as outlined in Addendum 2, are effective from 01 April 2023, and will be backdated to this date.
(ii) The increase, as outlined in the 2024/2025 M&D Pay Circular, is effective from 01 April 2024, and will be backdated to this date.

3. What are the new pay rates?

The new pay rates are detailed in Tables 1 and 2 above, but you may access the full Departmental Circulars via the following links:

(i) doh-hsc-addendum-2-pay-conditions-medical-staff-2023-24.PDF

(ii) doh-hsc-tc8-01-2025-r4.PDF

4. When will I see a change to my salary?

The uplifts will be applied in June 2025.
The new pay scales and any arrears owed will appear on your June 2025 payslip.

5. Will the pay award affect the amount of deductions (i.e. tax, national insurance) from my salary?

Any increase to gross pay will increase the amount deducted in tax, national insurance, pension contributions and statutory deductions such as student loans.

6. Does the pay award have any effect on allowances?

Allowances, for example, RDDiT Banding Supplements and GP Registrar Allowances, will be re-calculated using the new pay rates and backdated as per the effective dates above, with any arrears owed paid in your June 2025 salary.

7. Will I receive arrears?

Following deductions (See Q4), you will be paid any arrears owed to you in your June 2025 salary.

For staff enrolled in the HSC Pension Scheme, a review will take place of the percentage of pension contributions you pay. If the increase to your salary results in you paying more pension contributions, this will also be backdated to the effective dates outlined above, and any money owed will be recouped from the arrears applied.

Pension contribution rates are determined according to salary amounts; therefore, the increased pay may result in a higher percentage of pension contribution. While this is beneficial for your pension it may mean that any pay arrears are reduced or negated as the arrears amount is used to pay outstanding pension contribution amounts.

Please see Section 2 below for further information or visit HSC Pension Service | HSC Pension Service

8. I have been on family leave (i.e. maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental), will there be any change to my pay?

For staff whose family leave commenced prior to the effective dates above, arrears will be paid on all qualifying entitlement received since the effective dates.

For staff whose family leave commenced on or after the effective dates, arrears will be paid on all payments received to date and any future payments will be increased in line with the pay award uplift.

9. How is any sick pay I have received impacted by the pay award?

If you have been on sick leave since the effective dates and received occupational sick pay, your pay will be recalculated based on the new rates. If you are owed arrears, these will be paid in June 2025 and will appear as ‘OSP payment’ on your payslip.

If you were on no pay whilst off sick, you will not be due any payment for that period.

10. Resident Doctor strike deductions have recently been resolved using a revised calculation model. Will my strike deductions be impacted by the pay award?

Yes. Because these pay awards are applied retrospectively, as per the effective dates specified above, strike deductions will be subject to re-calculation based on the new rates of pay, as set out Question 1 above.

The revised calculation method for strike deductions, as set out in the Terms of Settlement, will continue to be applied. The revised calculation method was shared with you previously, however should you need a reminder, please note the formula below.

For strike deductions, the hourly rate applicable for each individual Resident Doctor, Dentist in Training, and locally employed doctor, shall be based upon the following formula:

For those Resident Doctors, Dentists in Training, and locally employed doctors who are not required to work out of hours (and are therefore not in receipt of a banding or GP supplement), assumed hours based on banding / GP supplement will not apply. The calculation of the hourly rate for affected Resident Doctors, Dentists in Training and locally employed doctors will be based on 1 whole time equivalent (40 hours).

Any monies owed following the implementation of the new pay rates will be paid in June 2025 to the bank account attached to your employment & Payroll record.

11. I have an overpayment plan in place because I have been overpaid, will this affect the arrears I receive?

If you have been overpaid and there is an agreed repayment plan in place, you will be paid any arrears owed to you.

If you have been overpaid and there is no repayment plan in place, any arrears owing may be offset against the overpayment in line with the regionally agreed Overpayments Policy. You will be informed of this by the Payroll Service Centre.

12. I have an overpayment and owe monies following the recalculation of strike deductions. How will this be managed?

You should note that monies owed will be re-calculated as per Question 10 and the amount you owe may increase in line with the new pay rates.

Unless you have a repayment plan in place to repay any overpayment arising from the implementation of the revised method to calculate / re-calculate strike deductions, any overpayment and monies owed to your employer as a result of the revised calculation model will be offset against any pay award arrears in accordance with the regionally agreed Overpayments Policy. You will be informed of this by the Payroll Service Centre.

13. What happens if I have moved employers since the effective dates outlined above?

The increase to pay rates will be applied to all eligible staff directly employed by the HSC from the effective dates outlined above. If you have subsequently left a HSC post(s) during the period of the above pay awards, your previous HSC employer(s) will pay any arrears owed to you for the period that you worked for them. PSC will use the last bank details held on their system.

If you owed your previous HSC employer(s) money i.e., you have an outstanding debt, the arrears from the pay award may be deducted from any outstanding monies owed subject to any existing overpayment recovery plan.

14. Will the pay award affect the benefits I receive?

The increased pay rates may have an impact on benefits paid to you from the effective dates, and any benefits claimed going forward. If you are in receipt of benefits and concerned about the potential impact of these pay awards, please contact your local advice centre, (e.g., Advice NI).

15. Will the pay award have an impact on travel claimed?

No, there is no change to the rates payable for travel claimed.

16. Will I receive an amended P60 once these Pay Awards are paid to me in June?

Your P60 for the financial years April 2023 -March 2024, and April 2024 to March 2025 have been issued to you already, before 31 May 2024 and 2025 respectively.

As these new pay awards are being paid in the financial year April 2025 to March 2026, these will show in next year’s P60 statement (i.e., 2025/2026), therefore you will not receive revised P60s for the previous 2 financial years.

Section 2: HSC Pension Scheme

The following questions are applicable to those that are members of the HSC Pension Scheme. Further information on pensions can be found on the HSC Pensions website HSC Pension Service | HSC Pension Service

17. What are the contribution rates for my pension?

For staff enrolled in the HSC Pension Scheme, both employees and their HSC employers make contributions to employees’ pension funds.

From April 2023 until 31 March 2024 your HSC employer paid a flat rate of 22.5%. This contribution rate increased to 23.2% from 1st April 2024, and the rate remains at 23.2% for the financial year commencing April 2025.

An employee’s contribution rate is dependent on their total pensionable earnings. Therefore, the higher your pensionable pay the higher your contribution rate may be.

The tables below set out employees’ contribution rates payable for the periods of these pay awards.

 Table 1 shows the contribution tiers for 01 April 2023 to 31 March 2024

 Table 2 shows the contribution tiers form 01 April 2024 to 31 March 2025

 Table 3 shows the contribution rates from 01 April 2025 to 31 March 2026

18. How are total pensionable earnings calculated?

In order to establish your total Pensionable Earnings, the following calculation is used:
New Actual Basic Pay + Prior Year’s pensionable enhancements
– Salary Sacrifices
= Pensionable Earnings

19. What elements of pay form part of pensionable earnings?

Not all payment types are pensionable therefore not all elements of pay form part of your pensionable earnings. Please refer to HSC Pension Service website for further information.

Section 5: Pensionable Pay and Contributions – HSC Pension Service (hscni.net)

20. Does my salary sacrifice affect pensionable earnings?

Yes, a salary sacrifice is deducted from your salary thus reducing your total pensionable earnings. Active salary sacrifice (i.e. childcare vouchers, cycle-to-work scheme, and lease car) from the effective dates above will be taken into consideration when calculating your total pensionable earnings.

21. Is there any impact on the amount of pension contributions I pay?

As a result of the pay award, the percentage you pay on your contributions may change following a change to your pensionable earnings. An assessment will be undertaken by PSC on each individual employee to determine the correct contribution rate. Any refunds or additional contributions will be paid or deducted as part of the arrears paid to you.
It is anticipated most staff will continue to pay the same rate.

22. If I have moved to a higher pension contribution tier, is money owed to my pension recouped from my pay award?

Yes, if the increase to your pensionable earnings results in you moving to a higher pension contribution tier you will owe money on your pension which will be deducted from your arrears.

23. Can the increase to my pay be less than the increase to the pension contributions I will pay?

Yes, on some occasions employees will receive a pay award where the percentage increase to their salary is less than the percentage increase in pension contribution.

24. What happens if the amount of arrears owed to me is less than the pension contributions I owe?

Most staff affected by the pension band review will not owe monies in excess of arrears owed to them. However, it is expected that a small number of staff will not have sufficient arrears from the pay award to cover their underpaid pension contributions.

Recovery of this will be in line with the regional overpayment policy and will be specific for each individual employee affected.

If you find you are affected in this way by more than 10% of your net pay, an automatic salary advance will be paid to you to offset this. This means you will receive monies to cover what is owed by you in the month of June 2025. Any arrears will be used to reduce your overpayment, and the remainder will be recovered in line with the regionally agreed Overpayments Policy.

For those who owe less than 10% of your net pay, the amount owed will be recouped from your June 2025 salary.

You will not have to ask or apply for this. Individual arrangements will be communicated to you separately.

Should you be happy to pay the deficit without putting in place a repayment plan, you can make arrangements to do this by contacting Payroll Services Centre (PSC) directly and the repayment plan will be cancelled.

25. How will I know if my arrears from the pay award are less than the pension contributions I owe?

If it is determined that you will not receive arrears due to the recalculation of pension contributions PSC will endeavour to write to you in advance of you receiving your June pay.

26. Will the pay award affect my pension annual allowance and could it result in additional tax liabilities for me?

Your pension growth and its impact on your annual allowance is affected by many factors including the increase in pay you will receive from these pay awards. You should seek independent financial advice if you are concerned about additional tax liabilities.

The pay awards will be applied from the effective dates and therefore it is possible to use unused previous years’ annual allowances.

27. When will my payslip be available to me?

Your payslip is available on HRPTS within 2 days of pay day. Printed payslips will also be posted in advance of payday to those employees unable to access HRPTS (e.g., those employees on statutory leave).