Nursing and Midwifery Council offered new government grant

The government has offered a one-off grant of 20 million pounds to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to help raise standards during a financially testing time for the organisation.

An independent body responsible for the regulation of nurses and midwives, the NMC has experienced a number of operational difficulties in recent years and is currently undergoing significant evolution under new leadership.

It is preparing to introduce a planned registration fee increase of almost 60 percent – from 76 pounds to 120 pounds a year – leading to fears that nurses and midwives will struggle to cope with the impact of this move.

As such, the government grant is designed to help soften the blow of this measure, while also assisting the NMC in properly tackling a backlog of fitness to practise cases.

Health minister Dr Dan Poulter said: "We want to support the council and its new leadership in getting back on its feet financially and operationally, and I hope that it will accept our offer."

A spokesperson for the NMC has since confirmed that it welcomes the proposed grant and will be discussing it in full when the council next meets on October 25th 2012.