Nearly half of UK public think junior doctors are underpaid, survey finds

About half the public think newly qualified nurses, junior doctors and healthcare assistants are underpaid, polling has found.

Research also showed that more people thought NHS staff overall were badly paid than well paid, amid signs that public sector pay could become an early test for the Labour government.

Dr Nick Krachler, a senior lecturer in human resource management at King’s College London (KCL), which undertook the research alongside the pollsters Ipsos, said: “Our survey shows considerable alignment between public perceptions of NHS pay levels and the claims of trade unions and professional associations that pay levels … are unsatisfactory for frontline NHS roles.”

Leaders of 56,000 junior doctors in England are preparing to open formal negotiations with the Department of Health and Social Care on Tuesday to try to resolve the long-running dispute over their claim for a 35% pay rise, which has resulted in 11 strikes since March 2023.

Related: Reeves hints public sector workers could get above-inflation pay rises

Almost half (47%) of people surveyed said newly qualified junior doctors – whose salary is £32,398 – were paid too little, while 32% felt they were paid the right amount and 6% said it was too much.

While 39% said NHS personnel were either fairly (30%) or very (9%) badly paid, fewer (29%) thought they were fairly or very well rewarded for their work.

Just over half of people said newly qualified nurses – whose salary is £28,407 – were underpaid, while almost as many said healthcare assistants at the start of their career, who earn £22,383 a year, were paid too little.

Krachler said: “This highlights the urgent need to address healthcare workers’ economic wellbeing, which I hope the new government will heed and consider in its negotiations with the junior doctors this week.”

Other findings, in a survey published by Ipsos before the recent general election, showed that a majority of Britons supported junior doctors’ right to strike, even though their 44 days of stoppages over the last 16 months have forced the NHS to cancel large numbers of appointments and operations.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, hinted on Sunday that public sector workers would be offered above-inflation pay rises in an effort to avoid a repeat of the widespread strikes that have caused disruption in the NHS, railways and other sectors since 2022.

However, with pay review bodies reportedly recommending rises of 5.5% for teachers and nurses – well above the 2% inflation rate – trade unions are likely to press for more than the 3% the government has set aside in its calculations.

The polling by KCL and Ipsos found much less sympathy over the salaries of health service bosses and senior doctors, such as hospital consultants.

Six in 10 of those surveyed said the chief executives of large NHS hospitals – who receive about £250,000 a year on average – were paid too much, and only 4% saw them as underpaid. A quarter said senior doctors were paid too much, while 45% said their salaries – typically £118,884 – were the right amount.