Nurses joining NMC register later than before

More nursing professionals are joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register aged 31 and older than ever before, latest data has shown.

This was the first year that more than half of new joiners were aged 31 and above, following a steady increase in joiners within this age bracket.

The NMC’s annual registration report published last month revealed that over half (51.1%) of professionals who joined the register in the last year were aged 31 or over.

The NMC believes the rise is largely due to significant numbers of people aged 31-50 joining the register from outside the UK.

Related Article: International recruitment of NHS staff to reduce to ‘less than 10%’

In fact, over half (58.3%) of international joiners in the past year came from within this age bracket.

Nursing lecturer Ricky Hillyar, who is about to start a new lecturing post at Birmingham Newman University, said he taught growing numbers of mature students in his previous lecturer post at Cardiff University. 

‘We often saw students come into nursing after having had careers and lives elsewhere. It can be a challenge settling back into learning, but they bring with them a range of skills and strengths gained since leaving school.

‘I’ve had students who have been carers, bank managers, worked in retail, nightclub bouncers etc and they all bring a huge amount of value with them,’ he said.

Rise in mature domestic students

There has also been a rise in the number of people from the UK joining the register in their thirties or later.

In the last six months 46.5% of UK joiners were aged 31 and above, this is compared with 37% five years ago.

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As of March 2025, the average age of people on the register was 44 years and three months, this has increased from 43 years and nine months in 2024.

Head of the school of nursing and midwifery at Keele University, Marie Doherty, said the applicant profile of pre-registration nursing students at Keele has historically involved large numbers of mature students. 

Ms Doherty told Nursing in Practice that many mature students choose to work in the area they studied in after qualifying.

‘Nonetheless, persistent challenges such as financial constraints, caring responsibilities, and gaps in digital literacy continue to pose significant barriers for some mature students, potentially affecting both application rates and programme completion,’ she explained.

The data also showed that over one in 10 professionals who left the NMC register in the last year did so because of poor mental or physical health.

Related Article: Overseas nurse recruitment falls for first time in six years 

The NMC also found that the number of registrants had reached a record high, but a ‘significant slowdown’ in international recruitment meant the recruitment rate had still slowed overall.

Last month, the healthcare super-regulator found that the NMC had failed to meet a series of organisational standards across key areas including safeguarding, whistleblowing and fitness to practise.