Nursing body
gets £20m to
aid finances

Ministers have pledged a one-off grant to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to ease an unpopular 58 per cent increase in registration fees.

A spokeswoman said the money would “protect nurses and midwives from the full impact of a proposed registration fee rise of almost 60 per cent”.

The NMC has recently consulted on increasing the annual fee from £76 to £120.

But unions condemned the move, saying it was “inappropriate” to increase fees in the midst of the NHS pay freeze.

The NMC, which regulates the UK’s 670,000 nurses and midwives, said that in the last few years it has received an “unprecedented increase” in the number of referrals about the fitness to practise of nurses and midwives.

To cope the organisation said it would increase registration fees – which nurses and midwives have to pay to work in the UK.

Health Minister Dan Poulter said the grant would be used to “improve the NMC’s performance” and to help tackle the backlog of fitness to practise cases.

Dr Poulter said: “I am pleased to be able to offer £20m of support to the NMC – it is an important body with an important role to play in protecting patients.”

The NMC has struggled financially for a number of years but it has begun to make improvements to its financial management.