NHS ends 12 years of staffing growth

The number of NHS staff in England is in year-on-year decline for the first time since 2013, as cuts to support and back-office roles combine with a sharp slowdown in clinical recruitment.

Figures for England show 1.37 million full-time equivalent staff were employed across trusts and integrated care boards in June, down 4,116, or 0.3%, on the same month a year earlier.

It is the third consecutive month in which the workforce has been smaller than 12 months earlier, with the gap widening from 0.1% in April to 0.2% in May and 0.3% in June. Annual growth had slowed steadily since the beginning of 2024. The workforce is now 9,371 FTE below its November 2025 peak.

The groups seeing year-on-year falls are clinical support staff, managers, “central functions” – such as HR, finance, IT, and admin – and other infrastructure support.

However, growth has significantly slowed among clinical staff groups – their numbers rose 1.9% over the year, down from 4.1% the year before and 5.8% the year before that. 

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Source: HSJ, 3 September 2026