Historical trend
Trend summary
NHS England had approximately 107,000 advertised vacancies in early 2025, representing a vacancy rate of around 7%.
Trend
- NHS vacancies rose from around 80,000 in 2019 to a peak of approximately 133,000 in mid-2022.
- Vacancies have declined from the 2022 peak but remain above pre-pandemic levels.
- Nursing vacancies account for the largest share, followed by allied health professionals.
Context
- NHS Digital (now NHSE) publishes workforce vacancy statistics quarterly; figures cover NHS trusts and related organisations.
- Vacancy rates are calculated as vacancies as a proportion of the total workforce establishment.
Commentary contains no editorial judgement — describes direction, magnitude, and official projections only.
About this indicator
- Source
- NHS England
- Update frequency
- Quarterly
- Last updated
- 20 June 2026
- Licence
- OGL v3
- Direction
- ↓ Falling
Statistics
- Latest
- 6.5 %
- Period high
- 7.1 %
- Period low
- 6.5 %
- Period average
- 6.8 %