Labour to slash nurse training in England as Scotland trains nearly TWICE as many

Professor John Robertson OBA

In the Telegraph yesterday and across media in England, the above astonishing decision by this Labour government, to follow from a series of cuts to services and tax increases for the less well-off, which can only further degrade the performance of the NHS in England and strengthen to role of the private sector, which funds many leading Labour politicians.

What would a Labour presence in government at Holyrood, say with Reform UK, put at risk here?

The Scotsman in February 2025 was front-paging Alarm over fresh drop in applicants for nurses course based on a 2% reduction in applications, from 4 650 to 4 560, six months before ‘clearing’ processes in the week and months before courses start, can fill the missing places.

The ‘alarm’ is from a union rep and, evidence-free, the fall in applications is explained by poor working conditions, which in turn, is based upon a small sample, self-selecting (squeaky wheel) survey.

Not mentioned, of course, is how this level of nurse training compares with other parts of the UK.

So, if Scotland is training 4 560 how many might NHS England be expected to be training? At ten times the population, around 45 000?

It’s 26 3301, not much over half the number you might expect they’d need.

Why is this?

From the British journal of Nursing in April 2024:

This UCAS data are more than just numbers; they reflect the changing dynamics in healthcare education and broader societal trends. The decrease in applications and acceptances could be attributed to various factors, including the intense pressures that health professionals have faced during the pandemic, which might deter potential applicants. The psychological and physical toll of the pandemic on healthcare workers has been widely publicised, possibly influencing the decision-making of those considering the profession.2

What is the Scottish Government doing to encourage applications?

Only in Scotland:

The Scottish Government will pay your tuition fees. Graduates may need to check if the government will pay their fees. The bursary is £10,000, which isn’t means-tested. Funding covers the whole year (52 weeks). If you’re studying an honours degree, you’ll get 75% of the bursary in your fourth year. The bursary includes £5 for daily travel but you can claim for placement expenses above this. You’re expected to use the cheapest public transport. (In Scotland, bus travel is free for Scottish residents under 22 years old). If costs are more than £30 per day, you should stay in local accommodation if possible. In your first year, there’s also a £60 initial expenses allowance.

Additional allowances include: Dependents Allowances – if you have a partner or spouse with a low income; Single Parents’ Allowance; Childcare Allowance – for registered childcare costs; Disabled Students’ Allowance. A discretionary fund is available for students in severe financial hardship.3

Sources:

  1. https://www.britishjournalofnursing.com/content/regulars/trends-in-nursing-applications#:~:text=Some%2026%20330%20applicants%20were%20accepted%20onto%20undergraduate,landscape%20and%20perhaps%20a%20higher%20calibre%20of%20applicants.
  2. https://www.britishjournalofnursing.com/content/regulars/trends-in-nursing-applications#:~:text=Some%2026%20330%20applicants%20were%20accepted%20onto%20undergraduate,landscape%20and%20perhaps%20a%20higher%20calibre%20of%20applicants.
  3. https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/student-advice/finance/nhs-bursary#ParamedicNursingandMidwiferyStudentBursaryinScotland

2 thoughts on “Labour to slash nurse training in England as Scotland trains nearly TWICE as many”

  1. Here is a link to the full article in the Telegraph

    https://archive.is/F6LOj

    As usual it refers throughout to ‘the NHS’ and ‘universities’.

    Does the Labour Gov know what it is doing? Barely a week ago they were announcing a reduction/halt to visas for people coming to work as carers. This week they want to bring people from abroad to work in the NHS to fill the gaps in the workforce that they are creating by reducing funding for University places for nursing courses.

    This comes on top of the reduction in training places for doctors who have completed their Foundation years and wish to specialise eg train as GPs.

    The right hand does not have a clue what the left hand is doing. Chaotic.

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  2. Cut to funding for nurse training in England – what impact on Westminster’s spend for England on health, or will the ‘saving’ be from the Department of Education’s budget? Is this leading to a reduction in overall departmental spend or more likely, a more limited increase in departmental spend overall than England’s services (and devolved equivalents in NI, Scotland and Wales) need?

    What impact of this – and the cumulative impact of multiple other – spending decision by the British Labour Party government in Westminster on the so called Block Grants to the governments in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh since it came to power in mid 2024?

    In the House of Commons, the SDLP MP for Belfast South and Mid Down asked this question of HM Treasury: “To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there will be a Barnett consequential for Northern Ireland following the roll out of free breakfast clubs in England.” (my emphasis)

    Reasonable question: the Westminster government gets lots of favourable press coverage for such announcements, coverage that reaches voters in NI, Scotland and Wales too. It’s a question which arguably should not need to be asked: let’s have each and every change in Westminster government spending decisions accompanied by transparency over budgetary significance for the three parts of this Union that are not England!

    In confirming there will be a Barnett consequential in this instance, the government minister’s response (Hansard record for May 6, 2025) included this: 

    “The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24.

    “The most recent report was published in July 2023.

    “An update to Block Grant Transparency to include Autumn Budget 2024 changes will be published in due course.“

    However, the last Block Grant Transparency report was published in July 2023 by Sunak’s Tory government. This is now June 2025: and we’ve already had the Main Estimates 2024-25 submitted to the Westminster parliament.

    What’s happened to the annual Block Grant Transparency publication that was due in mid 2024?

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