Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of midwifery staffing levels on the delivery of continuity of care in England.

The latest published Maternity Services Monthly Statistics show that, in December 2025, 18.9% of women in England were placed on a continuity of carer pathway by 28 weeks of pregnancy. This national figure is calculated using data from trusts that meet minimum data quality standards, and for December 2025, this included 96 out of 119 submitting trusts.

We recognise the clear benefits that continuity of midwifery care can bring, including improved experiences and reduced inequalities for women and babies. However, the delivery of continuity of care requires maternity services to have sufficient midwifery staffing and the right skill mix in place to maintain safe services across all settings.

In September 2022, NHS England wrote to all trusts setting out that implementation of continuity of care models should be paused where staffing shortfalls made them unsafe to deliver. Since then, NHS England has supported services to strengthen their workforce position and asked them to prioritise the rollout of enhanced continuity of care teams that focus on women with the greatest clinical or social vulnerability, where evidence shows continuity of care can have the greatest impact. From 2025/26, £10 million per year in recurrent funding is being provided to support these enhanced teams, which incorporate additional staffing to offer more holistic care and help reduce health inequalities in the most deprived area.