Consultation on proposals to increase our registration fees

At the same time as freezing our fees, our responsibilities have increased significantly, and the complexity of our work has also grown.

• The NMC now regulates a larger number of nursing and midwifery professionals than ever – with the Register having increased from 686,782 in 2015 to 853,707 in 2025. This includes nursing associates, a new profession in England since 2018.
• We are now the Regulator of 1 in 50 working-age people in the UK – with our register of health professionals being the biggest in the UK and one of the biggest in the world.
• We oversee 99 approved education institutions offering 2,527 programmes to more than 115,000 nursing and midwifery students.
• We receive an ever-growing number of monthly Fitness to Practise referrals. In April 2024, the rolling average of referrals stood at 499 per month. This figure has risen to an average of 574 per month – an increase of 15%.

As a result of freezing the fee, while investing in regulatory improvements and responding to growing demand at a time of high inflation, we are now having to use reserves to fund day-to-day activities.

In 2023–24, we spent £1.1m more than we brought in through income. Last year, we posted a deficit of £19m. This year, we are projecting a deficit of up to £27m.

It is because of this backdrop that we are proposing to increase our fees – which is a decision that we have not taken lightly.

We are proposing to:

• Raise our main registration fee by the equivalent of £1.92 per month 
• This would mean a rise from £120 a year to £143 – if we had raised the current fee in line with inflation it would now be £166
• For those registrants who pay by quarterly instalments this would be an additional £5.75 every three months.
• If you pay basic rate tax at 20% and claim tax relief on your fee, this would mean your main fee effectively becomes £114.40 per year – the equivalent of £1.53 more per month if you already claim tax relief.

We are also proposing to raise our other fees.

We are under new management and building a new NMC, with the aim of ensuring we become the strong and independent regulator that everyone wants to see.

As we transform our performance, we are investing in:

• Making Fitness to Practise faster and fairer
• Modernising the Code, revalidation and professional standards
• Assuring the quality and safety of education for nursing and midwifery students
• Embedding equality, diversity and inclusion in our regulatory processes, to better support the professions, and
• Improving technology and data to modernise the way we work.