The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has today published the results of its three-week consultation with eligible members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on the 2025/26 pay award of 3.6%. With the majority in each nation – 81.9% in England, 83.5% in Wales and 77.7% in Northern Ireland – saying they found the pay award ‘not acceptable’.
The RCM says while the overall response rate was low, the consultation has still provided a helpful insight into the views of some of its members across the three countries.
Terms and conditions in the workplace – too few staff, crumbling estates and the inability to provide adequate safe care to women and families – are also significant factor in midwives’ and maternity support workers’ disillusionment with the NHS. While pay is also undoubtedly a part of this, the RCM says it recognises that the picture is much more complex.
Commenting, the RCM’s General Secretary, Gill Walton, said:
“There is no doubt that there is real fatigue within the midwifery community, and that’s perhaps reflected in the turnout figures for this consultation. In our own member survey last year, midwives and maternity support workers told us about their frustration with the pace of positive change in the NHS. They are overstretched and undervalued – and that’s about far more than pay. However, pay often feels like the only lever they can pull to make the NHS leadership take notice, which is reflected in the results of this consultation.
“In his video to NHS staff yesterday, the Health Secretary in England said he recognised that more needs to change. For the first time in a very long time, the crisis in maternity services has the focus of the NHS’s top team. We want to work constructively with all NHS bodies and the national governments to deliver positive change so that the working lives of midwives and maternity support workers are genuinely and tangibly improved. Our members voices have been heard and we will be amplifying them in our ongoing discussions with NHS leaders.”
The RCM Board met this week to discuss the results and turnout across the three nations. While there was clear strength of feeling from those who took part in the consultation, even if that were to be replicated in a ballot for industrial action, it would fall well short of the turnout required by law in England and Wales for such action to take place.
Work is already underway on pay reform for 2026-27 and getting the Pay Review Body Process (PRB) back on track in a timely manner. All RCM members are entitled to receive their annual pay uplift on 1 April next year and the RCM will be pushing NHS organisations to make that happen, rather than experience the same drift that has taken place in recent years. RCM staff will be visiting workplaces and branch meetings to hear directly from members about this year’s pay award, pay reform and how the RCM as a whole can come together to improve your terms and conditions.
The RCM says as pay is awarded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as opposed to negotiated in Scotland. Members in England and Wales can now expect to receive their 3.6% pay award by the end of August. The award will also be backdated to 1 April 2025.
For members in Northern Ireland while the pay consultation was ongoing the RCM met with the Minister of Health, Mike Nesbitt MLA, to discuss the actions, he is taking to secure funding for a 2025/26 pay uplift for the Agenda for Change (AfC) workforce. Assurances have been given that the issue is now with the Northern Ireland Executive for consideration. Following this meeting the HSC unions have written to the First and Deputy First ministers alongside the finance minister requesting a meeting to discuss funding for our members pay award. The RCM has been clear: a repeat of the significant delays experienced in 2024/25 in putting pay uplifts in place for its members in Northern Ireland must be avoided at all costs.
The RCM says it will keep members updated any developments via email over the coming weeks.
ENDS
