Rising numbers of younger midwives quitting NHS in England, data shows | Midwifery

More and more midwives are leaving the NHS before they turn 35 due to burnout, exacerbating the staffing problems affecting maternity units.

The growing trend of leaving careers early has triggered fears that it poses a threat to the quality and safety of care that mothers and babies receive from already understaffed maternity wards.

A total of 1,669 midwives aged 34 and under left the health service in England in 2025-26; This is more than half (57%) of the 2,949 midwives of all ages who resigned.

The intense pressures of working in maternity services, including the increasing complexity and risks involved, are thought to be behind this trend.

According to parliamentary questions prepared by the Liberal Democrats, of the 1,669 young people who left last year, 205 were under 25, 655 were between 25 and 29, and the other 809 were between 30 and 34.

In recent years, the number of midwives leaving their jobs under the age of 35 has increased rapidly. NHS figures show the 2025-26 figure is 59% higher than the 1,051 people leaving in 2014-15.

And according to different figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats, almost one in four midwifery students leave school before completing a three-year undergraduate degree. in 2021 total 3,565 students She started her midwifery diploma. However Only 2,725 people graduated in 2024This means that 840 (24%) of the midwife candidates who started the course could not complete the course. Midwifery students spend most of their second and third years learning on the job in maternity units.

The loss of midwifery staff and students reveals what happened Royal College of Midwives (RCM) calls “Staffing emergency” in maternity care across the UK.

According to a recent RCM survey, three quarters of midwives considered leaving the profession in the past year, mainly due to concerns about staffing levels and patient safety.

The union’s deputy midwife, Hannah Leonard, said the exodus of midwives aged under 35 was “deeply worrying” and showed that too many midwives were “burning out within a few years of qualifying as too few colleagues per shift meant missed breaks and unpaid hours”.

“Losing these midwives and students before they even qualify is a terrible waste of talent,” she added.

Both recent large-scale reviews of maternity care in England Donna Ockenden And Valerie Amosidentified staffing shortages as a significant problem that jeopardizes the safety of patient care.

Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Helen Morgan said: “These statistics reveal a worrying crisis in motherhood, with too many midwives burning out early in their careers and training. Patients are paying the price and mothers are left with no choice but to give birth in understaffed and unsafe wards.

“Instead of wasting money on more new recruits leaving under unacceptable pressure, the government needs a new approach. By ensuring protected, year-round training and professional development, we can help midwives cope with increasing complexity and risk.”

Around 10% of midwives leave the NHS each year. However, this obscures the fact that one in seven (14.6%) of those aged 25-29 and one in six (16.6%) of those aged 30-34 will leave in 2025-26.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) did not respond directly to the figures.

A spokesman said only: “There are a record number of midwives in the workforce under this government and we value the vital service they provide in maternity and neonatal units across the country.

“To make the NHS the best employer it can be, we have introduced new NHS staffing standards to improve health and wellbeing support, encourage flexible working, as well as introduce significant measures to tackle violence, sexual harassment or abuse and racism.

“As well as successive above-inflation pay rises, we have strengthened the midwifery workforce through our graduate guarantee and recently opened a further 1,000 midwifery positions with £10m support to help prevent student midwives leaving the profession.”

DHSC figures show 25,500 full-time equivalent midwives work in the NHS; This is 2,000 more than when the Labor government took office in July 2024.