Newly registered nurses put on ‘waiting lists’ for employment, report reveals

Graduate nurses are being put on job waiting lists despite government promises to provide more roles for newly registered nurses and midwives.

New evidence in the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) report, published on February 12, revealed that the transition into employment was ‘variable’ and ‘inconsistent’ for newly registered nurses.

The report states some NHS Trusts have been interviewing new graduates and placing them on ‘a waiting list’ due to ‘financial positions’ preventing them from offering roles.

This follows the government announcement in August last year of the ‘Graduate Guarantee’ scheme which pledged to provide more jobs for newly registered nurses and midwives.

Plans included converting existing healthcare assistant vacancies into registered nurse posts, with £8m of non-recurrent funding provided to support the temporary conversion of vacant maternity support worker posts into Band 5 registered midwifery roles.

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However, staff and management across different NHS Trusts reported that the Graduate Guarantee was operating ‘differently’ and being ‘influenced’ by financial positions, according to the PRB report.

Some trusts stated they were unable to employ the new graduates who had trained locally due to an alleged breach of an ‘informal contract’ associated with training for clinical roles in the NHS. They expressed ‘frustration’ that young, newly qualified staff members who had grown up and trained in the local area would have to look elsewhere for roles.

The Graduate Guarantee scheme was intended to ‘remove barriers’ for NHS trusts and deliver ‘seamless transition’ from training to employment.

Writing for Nursing in Practice last year, health and social care secretary Wes Streeting promised to ‘make sure the nurses and midwives we desperately need can start the careers they have worked so hard to prepare for, straight away’.

Under the scheme, newly registered nurses and midwives were to be given additional support when applying for roles with ‘thousands’ of new jobs being ‘unlocked’ across the healthcare sector.

Caroline Waterfield, director of workforce supply at NHS Employers, said employers had worked ‘diligently’ with the scheme.

She said: ‘In 2025, employers across England recruited many of the newly qualified nurses and midwives who had just completed their studies into their first roles.

‘In some places there were more job seekers than jobs; in others, there were more vacancies than people.

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‘In response to the government’s Graduate Guarantee request, employers worked diligently with partners across local systems to support newly trained nurses and midwives without a job offer, ensuring they were offered employment as soon as practicable.’

Previously concerns were expressed by the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing (QICN) that the Graduate Guarantee for nursing was unlikely to work in primary care, and could deter nurses from considering practice roles as a result.

The PRB report also revealed that NHS nurses on Agenda for Change contracts in England and Wales will receive a 3.3% pay rise for 2026/27.

Health and social care secretary Mr Streeting said the increase would be in nurses’ pay packets from April ‘for the first time in six years’.

Mr Streeting said the government had accepted the NHS PRB’s recommendations ‘in full’ and that this year’s award was ‘above the government’s affordability’.

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He added that as part of an overall Agenda for Change pay package for 2026/27, the government will, with trade unions, ‘agree and implement funded improvements’ to the pay structure.

Nursing in Practice has launched a new and exclusive survey to gather information and views from nurses working in general practice about all things pay, terms and conditions.

Our survey – open to all nursing staff working in general practice in the UK – covers a range of topics including pay, pensions, benefits and job satisfaction.