They added: ‘Increasing the London weighting would make a real difference, helping me to save towards moving out while taking some of the financial pressure off the day-to-day cost of living and working in London.’
One of those leading the BMA’s campaign is BMA resident doctors committee chair and BMA London regional council honorary secretary Callum Parr.
Dr Parr, who works in north-west London, said the BMA’s call was for parity between NHS staff in the amount of weighting they received, adding that the decision to freeze allowances for doctors had failed to reflect economic reality.
He said: ‘Doctors and their NHS colleagues can work in the same hospital, travel on the same Tube and face the same London rents, yet receive very different support towards those costs.
‘The NHS already recognises that working in London costs more. What we are asking is why doctors’ payments have been left frozen since 2005 while those for our colleagues have increased.
‘For doctors starting their careers, the cost of renting and travelling to work in London puts real pressure on their finances. An allowance that has stood still for more than two decades is increasingly disconnected from the costs it was designed to recognise.’
He added: ‘We are asking members whether they are prepared to take further action to secure a fair payment. Doctors deserve the same recognition of London’s additional costs as their NHS colleagues.’
The ballot of London-based doctors is set to run until 30 November.