• Nursing careers made more accessible through ‘earn and learn’ route
• Up to 2,000 nursing apprentices to be trained every year for the next 4 years

Nursing careers in England will be made more accessible through a new government package worth up to £172 million, which will enable healthcare employers to take on up to 2,000 nursing degree apprentices every year over the next 4 years.

The news comes as interest in health careers has surged, with the number of people looking for information on nursing on the NHS careers website rising by 138% between March and June.

Nursing degree apprenticeships provide a route into nursing where people can train to nationally recognised standards and earn as they learn, benefiting those for whom a full-time university course is not practical or preferred.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

I’m thrilled to see a rising interest in nursing careers, but we must ensure this fantastic career is truly diverse and open to all.

Nursing apprenticeships allow students to earn as they learn and this new funding will enable healthcare employers to hire thousands more, helping us to deliver 50,000 more nurses by the end of this Parliament.

Gillian Keegan, Apprenticeships and Skills Minister said:

Nursing apprenticeships are a brilliant way to start a truly rewarding career with our fantastic NHS.  Nurses are at the heart of our NHS and their care, compassion and support of patients save and transform lives across the country every day.

This multi-million pound funding boost will help to support thousands of apprentices to gain the skills they need, and earn while they learn. Apprenticeships are an excellent way for anyone, regardless of their background, to kick start their career or to progress.

NHS and other healthcare employers will receive £8,300 per placement per year for both new and existing apprenticeships. Nursing degree apprentices already receive a salary and have their tuition costs paid for through the apprenticeship programme. The funding will enable employers to meet the costs of taking on apprentices, including staffing costs while apprentices are undertaking education and training.

The nursing degree apprenticeship is a 4-year course with placements available in the 4 fields of adult, children, mental health and learning disability, after which students can qualify as fully registered nurses. NHS and social care employers currently train around 1,000 nurse apprentices every year.

In addition to this funding, employers in England will also benefit from a new payment announced last month of £2,000 for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and £1,500 for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, up until 31 January 2021.

The news comes the week after the NHS People Plan was published setting out how the NHS will put staff wellbeing at its heart with a new recruitment, retention and support package. It sets out practical support for wellbeing such as safe spaces to rest and recuperate, wellbeing guardians and support to keep staff physically safe and healthy.

The number of adults entering the Social Care profession is in serious decline according to new data:

In its latest workforce analysis report, Skills for Care found that there were an estimated 36,000 registered nurse jobs in the adult social care sector in 2019-20.

The numbers had “gradually decreased year-on-year” and were down 15,500 (30%) since 2012-13. Nurse jobs had reduced by 3,000 (7%) since 2018-19.

Registered nursing was the only profession to see a decline in workforce numbers over the period analysed, while jobs overall in the sector increased by 9% to 1.65 million roles in 2019-20

"The significant drop in nurses working in adult social care is disappointing"

Andrea Sutcliffe

The report said the nurse reduction “may be related to recruitment and retention issues”.

However, it added that it “also may have come about as a result of some organisations creating ‘nursing assistant’ roles to take on some tasks previously carried out by nurses”.

Skills for Care said it would be monitoring the situation going forward.

Andrea Sutcliffe

Andrea Sutcliffe, chief executive and registrar at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), and previous chief inspector for adult social care at the Care Quality Commission, described the drop in nurse numbers as “disappointing”.

“A welcome and necessary overall increase in the number of people choosing to work in adult social care comes as we’re celebrating record numbers of people on the NMC register as shown in our latest registration data reports,” said Ms Sutcliffe.

“But the significant drop in nurses working in adult social care is disappointing, especially when Covid-19 has shown just how critical this group of professionals is in caring for people living in some of the most vulnerable circumstances right across the UK.”

She said the NMC would continue to fight to ensures nurses in social care “feel valued and recognised” and that nursing students were given work experiences in the sector.

"Both providers and the adult social care workforce need to be prioritised as they remain at the frontline in combatting Covid-19"

Martin Green

The report - The size and structure of the adult social care sector and workforce in England – also included future workforce forecasts.

It said if the workforce grew at the same rate as the projected number of people aged 65 and over in the population, jobs would increase by 32% to around 2.17 million by 2035.

The latest data in the report was taken between April 2019 to March 2020, before the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and therefore “does not show how Covid-19 has impacted the adult social care workforce”.

“Rather it should be used as a baseline to reflect the composition of the workforce prior to Covid-19 and to give context to any further research or data collected after March 2020,” stated the document.

Professor Martin Green

Figures from the first quarter of 2020-21 – between March and June – showed an increase in staff sickness, with the average number of days off at 8.0% compared with 2.4% pre-Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the staff vacancy rate for the sector was down since the crisis, with a reduction in demand for services “likely a contributing factor”.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, which represents independent providers, said the report “highlights in stark terms the need for further investment in the adult social care sector if we are to meet the demographic demands of the future”.

He added: “This report makes it crystal clear that in the coming weeks and months, both providers and the adult social care workforce need to be prioritised as they remain at the frontline in combatting Covid-19.”

The Myths and legends of the Public sector pay increase and what this means for Nurses:

Much of the coverage on Tuesday (Coronavirus: almost 900,000 public sector workers to get pay rise, says Sunak, 21 July) suggested that public sector workers were to benefit from Rishi Sunak’s largesse, but the headlines conveyed a misleading picture. In fact, less than a quarter of some 4.4 million public sector employees are affected by the announcement, which simply accepts the recommendations of independent pay review bodies. The modest increases come after nearly a decade of real-term pay cuts, which have eroded the value of salaries among large sections of the workforce by more than 20% since 2010.

How the pay rise effects different public sector workers:

Teachers:

Teachers will get a 3.1 per cent pay rise,

The government proposed an overall 3 per cent rise that would provide increases for every teacher. However it was weighted towards new starters who would get a 6.7 per cent rise, with a 2.5 per cent raise for experienced teachers and heads.

Police:

Doctors to recieve 2,8% pay increase but no pay rise for nurses

Government must invest in nursing students to fix workforce crisis

The report, Beyond the Bursary: Workforce Supply, states that the government must provide adequate financial support for nursing students, including reimbursing tuition fees or forgiving current debt for all nursing, midwifery, and allied health care students impacted by the removal of the bursary; abolishing self-funded tuition fees for all nursing, midwifery, and allied health care students starting in 2020/21 and beyond; and introducing universal, living maintenance grants that reflect actual student need.

‘The pandemic has shone a light like never before on the work of nurses. It also saw many thousands of student nurses come forward to provide their services across the NHS. Yet when they

Student debt a major factor for newly qualified student nurses

finish their training, they will be left with tens of thousands of pounds of debt which, for many, will never be paid off,’ said RCN Chief Executive and General Secretary Dame Donna Kinnair.

There are simply not enough nurses being trained in this country and we can no longer rely on recruiting from overseas. Unless urgent action is taken, we could see vacancy numbers reach 100,000 by the end of the decade. Now is the time to grow our domestic workforce supply and properly invest in the training of new nurses to deliver safe and effective care in every acute and community setting, in both health and social care, across the country.’

In 2017, the government removed the nursing bursary in England, which had supported students as they studied to become qualified nurses. Following a subsequent decline in nursing degree applicants, the government announced an annual maintenance grant of between £5000 and £8000 per student from this September. While this year has seen a small uplift in applications, they are still down by 17% from 2016/17 – the final year in which student nurses did not have to pay their own fees.

The fall in nursing student numbers comes amid wider concerns about nursing numbers. Going into the COVID-19 pandemic, there were almost 40,000 unfilled nursing vacancies in the NHS in England alone. Furthermore, a recent RCN survey of approximately 42,000 members in England showed that 36% were thinking of leaving the profession – up from 27% at the end of 2019.

A 172 NHS Pay Review Body report encourages employers to use pay supplements

Nearly 900,000 public sector workers to receive pay rise, Rishi Sunak says

Nearly 90,000 public sector workers, including Doctors, Teachers and the Police will receive on average 3.1% pay rises. However, many frontline NHS staff including nurses will miss out.

Government sources cite that nurses have already received inflation busting pay rises overt he past few years and it would be economically untenable to increase pay further.

Sunak commented that:

“These past months have underlined what we always knew, that our public sector workers make a vital contribution to our country and that we can rely on them when we need them,” Mr Sunak said in a statement.

he continues:

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announces public sector pay rise of up to 3.1%