NORWICH — Newly qualified midwives demonstrated in Norwich under the Fund Future Midwives UK campaign, protesting a shortage of NHS midwifery posts for 2025 graduates. Similar demonstrations were held in Manchester and Birmingham.

The Royal College of Midwives surveyed newly qualified members earlier this year and found that 31% had not secured jobs. Some graduates are working in lower-paid roles outside the NHS, including as receptionists or administrators, because the number of advertised posts did not match the numbers being trained.

On 17 March, students were told on a webinar facilitated by NHS England Workforce, Training and Education that there could be about 55 midwifery vacancies in the East of England for around 300 students qualifying this year, a ratio of roughly one job for every five graduates. The number of midwives graduating this year was effectively set in late 2022, before current budget pressures became clear.

Decisions about employing newly qualified staff are taken locally by NHS trusts, many of which are under severe financial strain. Fiona Gibb, director of midwifery at the Royal College of Midwives, said: "Trusts up and down the country are having to make incredibly difficult financial decisions that are leading to recruitment freezes. We are seeing healthy numbers of student midwives coming through, but the funding hasn't been there at the end of [training] programmes to ensure they are employed."

Hollie Thornhill, who qualified as a midwife in 2025, is working as a receptionist at a spa and has applied for seven midwifery jobs in 12 months. "The response you always get is: 'We've got no money, no funding — we're over budget'," she said.

Student midwife Jack Foreman said: "We need safer staffing levels — this can't be swept under the rug. You want to help, to go on the wards and see the mothers and babies, knowing that I might not be able to do this after I graduate, it's really disheartening."

Students must complete 2,300 hours of unpaid clinical practice, including on-call shifts, while paying tuition fees and placement travel expenses. They receive a £5,000-a-year training bursary that does not have to be repaid. Midwives do not lose their professional registration if they cannot find work immediately after qualifying, but after three years without work they must show they have worked 450 hours or complete a return-to-practice course.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the NHS expanded midwifery training in response to pressures and long-standing shortages. The previous Conservative government increased student midwifery places, describing the move as "the largest expansion of NHS training in history." Birth rates in the UK are falling.

The Care Quality Commission has repeatedly linked staffing pressures in maternity units to safety concerns. In its most recent inspections, nearly half of maternity services either required improvement or were rated inadequate. The government funded 700 new midwifery posts costing £8m and said it sympathised with newly qualified midwives.