Major strides towards new NMC one year on from independent review

One year after the publication of the Independent Culture Review (ICR), the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has reported “substantial progress in transforming its organisational culture and regulatory processes”. The review, published in July 2024, prompted a radical overhaul of the NMC’s approach to fitness to practise, safeguarding, and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

Since accepting the ICR’s 37 recommendations, the NMC has completed 24 and embedded them into its Culture Transformation and Fitness to Practise plans. Key achievements include the launch of a dedicated safeguarding hub, ensuring that all new fitness to practise referrals are assessed for safeguarding risks at the outset. This initiative is supported by significant investment in the NMC’s Safeguarding team, aimed at providing timely support to professionals facing concerns.

In a major step towards promoting fairness and inclusion, the NMC has signed the UNISON Anti-Racism Charter and developed a comprehensive anti-racist action plan. This includes ambitious EDI targets, efforts to reduce the ethnicity pay gap, and a restructured mentoring programme—Rising Together—which now ensures that 80 percent of participants are from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds.

The NMC has also made progress in diversifying its fitness to practise panels, with 24 percent of lay panel members and 23 percent of registrant panel members now from Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities. Work continues to broaden representation across its regulatory functions.

A wide-reaching coaching programme has been rolled out to all people managers and senior leaders, focusing on embedding EDI principles, values-based decision making, psychological safety and effective leadership. This marks one of the most ambitious coaching initiatives ever undertaken by a UK regulator.

Operational improvements have also been notable. The NMC has significantly increased the number of screening decisions made each month, averaging 737 between January and June 2025, compared to 553 in the previous six months. The proportion of fitness to practise cases completed within 15 months has risen from 60.8 percent in July 2023 to 70.4 percent in June 2025, reflecting ongoing efforts to streamline regulatory processes and reduce delays.

The NMC has committed to continuing its transformation journey, with further recommendations still in progress and a clear focus on building a fairer, safer and more inclusive regulatory environment.

Paul Rees MBE, Chief Executive and Registrar, said:

“The Independent Culture Review marked a turning point for the NMC. Now, under new management, we are delivering a radical turnaround programme. There is a long way to go but we are building a new NMC – one that is fit for the future and which will be better able to fulfil its core purpose of protecting the public.

“The work we have done so far has strengthened our approach to safeguarding, and is improving the timeliness of our case management in fitness to practise.

“We are also rolling out initiatives to build a positive and inclusive culture. This will enable all our staff to thrive and deliver their full potential, for the benefit of the professions we regulate and the public we serve.”

Ron Barclay-Smith, Chair of the Council, said:

“The NMC’s culture is changing and linked to this, our regulatory performance is improving, for the benefit of the public as well as nurses, midwives and nursing associates.

“We will not become complacent. There is a lot of work ahead to fully turn the organisation around. However, the progress one year on from the Independent Culture Review is a positive indicator of things to come, as we transform at pace under new leadership.”

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