The British Medical Association is considering significant staffing reductions in England as part of a restructuring intended to address continuing financial pressure, according to a report by the Guardian.
The doctors’ union has placed around 200 of its 600 staff in England at risk of redundancy, the newspaper reported. The move has caused concern among employees and representatives of the GMB union, which represents many BMA staff.
The BMA said final decisions had not been made and stated that the proposals under consultation would reduce its headcount by around 20 full-time equivalent posts. It said it expected most of those departures to be voluntary redundancies.
The proposed changes come shortly after resident doctors in England who are members of the BMA voted narrowly to accept a pay deal following a long-running dispute with the Government. The dispute involved repeated strike action that disrupted NHS services and became one of the most prominent health workforce conflicts in recent years.
The BMA has said the restructuring is intended to support its work as a trade union and improve its ability to organise and campaign on behalf of doctors. The organisation also operates as a professional association, representing doctors on wider medical, scientific and ethical matters.
According to the Guardian, the union has been losing millions of pounds annually despite reaching record membership of about 200,000. The report said the BMA has received £86.8 million in subsidies since 2008 from the British Medical Journal, which it owns, to support its finances.
The financial position is significant because the BMA plays a central role in representing doctors across the NHS, including in pay disputes, workplace negotiations and policy discussions affecting medical practice. Any reduction in staff capacity may therefore be closely watched by doctors, NHS employers and health officials.
The Guardian reported that employees have expressed anger about the process, with some accusing the organisation of inconsistency in its treatment of its own workforce. Staff concerns have included the scale of roles placed at risk and the way the restructuring has been communicated internally.
GMB has claimed the BMA has breached its own human resources procedures and has sought to limit staff discussion of the proposals. The BMA said it had been engaging extensively with GMB since last year and more recently with affected staff through a consultation process.
Gavin Davies, a senior organiser at GMB, said the union was aware of the redundancies being proposed. He said workers were understandably worried and that GMB would seek to avoid compulsory redundancies and the financial hardship that can follow.
The report said BMA staff who are GMB members recently passed a vote of no confidence in Rachel Podolak, the BMA’s chief executive, who is overseeing the restructuring. The Guardian said 91% supported the motion on a 72% turnout.
One area of concern involves staff supporting the BMA’s board of science and board of ethics, which contribute to reports and policy work. The Guardian reported that up to 20 of 45 staff involved in those areas could lose their jobs under the proposals being discussed.
The restructuring may also affect industrial relations officers, who support doctors in workplace disputes and local negotiations. The report said the BMA is considering reducing those posts from 23.5 to 14, alongside a reduction in regional leadership roles.
Local negotiating committees, which represent hospital doctors in workplace matters, have raised concerns about the potential loss of industrial relations and regional posts. The Guardian reported that chairs of 110 such committees wrote to senior BMA figures objecting to the proposed reductions.
The BMA’s consultants committee has also expressed concern about the impact of reducing those roles, according to the report. Industrial relations officers can be involved in advising doctors over disputes with NHS management, supporting local campaigns and assisting with employment issues.
A BMA spokesperson said the organisation was making changes to build on recent successes and support members to organise and campaign more effectively, particularly in workplaces. The spokesperson said other cost reductions had lowered its deficit by £4 million, but inflation had pushed it back to £5 million.
The BMA said it needed to reduce some fixed costs while continuing to invest in maintaining membership levels. It said any process involving staff departures was difficult, but that it had been working with GMB as its trade union partner and consulting affected employees.
The union’s financial challenge comes at a time when medical workforce issues remain a major concern for the NHS. Doctors’ pay, retention, workloads and service pressures have all been central to recent disputes and negotiations across the health service.
The BMA has not announced final outcomes from the restructuring process. Further details are expected once consultation has concluded and the union confirms which roles, if any, will be removed through voluntary or compulsory redundancy.
The dispute leaves the BMA balancing its own financial position against the staffing needed to represent doctors in national and local employment matters. The outcome will be important for employees of the union and for members who rely on the organisation’s support during a period of continued pressure across the NHS.
