RCN condemns NMC fee decision

Published: 25 October 2012

The Royal College of Nursing has condemned the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) decision to raise registration fees.

From January, nurses will pay an annual registration fee of £100 a year to the NMC for the next two years. There will be an annual review of fee levels.

RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary Dr Peter Carter said: “We are staggered that with an increase of over 30 per cent, the NMC is still asking for frontline nurses to pay the penalty for a problem which is not of their making.

“Nurses are still being asked to pay for the failures of their regulator, with no real assurance that the fundamental problems will be solved.”

The RCN said the outcome a full financial audit needs to be seen and has called for an ongoing, high-level scrutiny of the NMC.

The NMC has accepted the Government’s offer of a £20 million grant to assist them with their financial difficulties.“The RCN welcomed the offer, which our members have called for repeatedly. Now more than ever, they will want to be reassured about the long term future of their professional regulation,” Dr Carter added.

The NMC had originally planned to increase the registration fee by 58 per cent to £120 a year.