Nursing career, pay and pension concerns: what you need from us
With thousands of nurses cutting their careers short thanks to difficult or unrewarding working conditions, it’s clear the RCNi audience has an appetite for our coverage of pay, pension and other employment-related issues, and that these are key concerns for many nurses and nursing support workers. Here, we outline how popularity of certain subjects we cover reflects the issues nurses are thinking about in relation to their jobs, how they want to develop their careers, or even whether they wish to stay in the profession at all. Editor Flavia Munn reveals plans for enhanced support for newly registered nurses, and invites you, our readers and podcast listeners, to share your feedback on how we can best meet your information and learning needs.
Pay, pension and employment-related issues – what our data insights reveal about the issues nursing staff care about and the support they need
News that thousands of nurses are leaving the profession early because of poor working conditions has been met with more of a weary sigh than surprise in the profession.
Half of respondents to the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s latest leavers’ survey indicated they are leaving up to a decade earlier than they’d anticipated. Of these, 54% are leaving between one and four years prematurely and 23% between five and ten years sooner.
Many of you will know this is happening, from straw polls of friends or colleagues.
Nurses’ concerns about pay, working conditions and pensions
The response to our coverage of pay, working conditions and pensions highlights key concerns for leavers. At RCNi, we’re able to see the numbers of people reading, listening to, or otherwise engaging with our content. The high use of our content about pensions suggests that at least some of you are crunching the numbers while looking for a way out.
High numbers of you also read the pay updates we produce and it’s clear you also want to see how well nurses working in other countries – especially those in comparable economies – are paid. Take these two articles, for example: one on rates for nursing pay in the NHS; the other on how nurses’ salaries in the UK compare with those around the world:
- NHS pay 2025-26: rates for nursing staff across the UK
- Nurse pay around the world: how do UK salaries compare?
More encouraging (I hope!) are the numbers who have accessed the data on the best places to work in the NHS that we pulled together from the NHS staff survey, in this article:
How RCNi can support your career progression and CPD
You also demonstrate keenness to earn CPD hours and find ways to move up in the profession or develop your career, as engagement with our careers and peer-reviewed content shows.
One plan we have is to offer fresh insights into career settings suitable for newly registered nurses.
Of course, none of this changes the fact of NHS recruitment freezes imposed by budget-tightening, nor does it magic-up the fair pay and improved working conditions necessary to stem the tide of early departures from the profession.
We want to support and help you navigate the issues you are facing and, with that in mind, please get in touch with your suggestions or feedback: flavia.munn@rcni.com
