BMA meeting: BMA will ballot on industrial action if government imposes pension changes

The threat of industrial action over changes to the NHS pension scheme drew closer today as the BMA conference called for a ballot if the government seeks to impose a career average scheme. The ballot would cover “all forms of industrial action” so might not involve a withdrawal of labour. But since the government has already made clear, in response to Lord Hutton’s report on the future of public sector pensions, that career average schemes are its favoured choice, a ballot now seems very likely. At the BMA annual meeting in Cardiff, 87% of the representatives voted for the section of the motion seeking a ballot, with 13% opposing. As a ballot has financial implications for the association, the motion required a …