Member benefits

• Our online learning platform i-learn now has over 100 courses written by and for midwives, student midwives and MSWs. Ranging from short introductory ‘10-minute taster’ courses to in-depth CPD modules, i-learn is an invaluable, free and unique resource available only to RCM members.
• Our online i-folio is the simplest way to keep track of your professional progress, maintaining a record of all your learning and development achievements and experience. Once started this can accompany you throughout your career, even as you change jobs and employers, and is invaluable for processes such as Revalidation.
• Our experienced midwife teachers design and deliver a range of leadership training courses and workshops. There’s something for everyone who is keen to fulfil their development potential in providing safe, effective care.
• To help you plan your next move, our career framework sets out the range of opportunities and roles available to midwives and MSWs, the experiences and educational routes that will help you get there and advice from those already working in those areas.
• To ensure you are up to date with all that is new in maternity policy, clinical practice, education and research, we produce our bi-monthly Midwives Magazine and quarterly online Evidence Based Midwifery Journal.
• Supplementing our magazine and journals is a range of electronic newsletters, with up-to-the-minute news, views and updates of key events and campaigns. Specific newsletters are sent to student midwives, MSWs, RCM activists as well as a bi-monthly all-member newsletter.
• The RCM is home to the world’s oldest Midwifery Library. As well as access to books, journals and a wealth of online resources, our librarian can help you with literature searches.
• Our network of learning representatives organise and support bespoke learning in your workplace through study sessions, journal clubs and skills swaps. We make it easy to keep on learning without travelling miles or paying expensive course fees.

• We are the only trade union that can guarantee you will get expert employment relations and professional advice from someone who really understands maternity care. Our network of workplace stewards and health and safety officers are all trained and supported by full-time officers who are themselves midwives. So if you need advice, support or representation on issues that arise at work you can be confident that we’ll be with you.
• Working alongside our full-time officers is our legal service, provided through Thompsons Solicitors, which represents members referred to the NMC and advocates for members in employment tribunals.
• Whatever the issue and however complex the legal claim, Thompsons fights hard for our members.  RCM members can access direct help with personal injury claims, will writing, conveyancing, probate and general legal advice by calling 0808 100 7776.
• Our workplace representatives – stewards, health & safety reps, learning reps and MSW advocates – also ensure that members’ views and concerns, ideas and worries are fed into your local maternity management and employers; making sure your voice is heard wherever decisions are being made.
• All members employed in the NHS or providing NHS services are covered by the RCM’s Medical Malpractice Insurance. This contingent policy is there to keep you safe in the unlikely event of the NHS not providing vicarious liability.

• The RCM’s Annual Awards showcase outstanding achievement in maternity across the UK.  Members can nominate themselves or others to be judged by a panel of peers which rewards, celebrates and shares the best new evidence based practice and team working.
• Every year the RCM marks International Day of the Midwife with local events and celebrations raising the profile of maternity services and their enormous contribution to their communities.
• The RCM’s popular annual campaign to celebrate Maternity Support Workers in maternity across workplaces in the UK has cemented our place as the true voice of all workers in maternity roles.
• Our global work provides the opportunity to volunteer in overseas placements learning from and sharing with midwives in the developing world. This provides a fantastic personal and professional development opportunity helping you grow as a leader and gain a deeper understanding of wider health systems.
• Recognising individual members who provide exceptional leadership and deliver excellence in practice, education or research the RCM Fellowship is available on application to be judged by a panel of peers. Fellows once appointed can use FRCM after their name.

• All members automatically belong to one of our local RCM branches. These are the focus for local discussions, networking, fundraising and much more. Branch members elect a committee including workplace representatives to be the voice of the RCM locally and each branch receives an annual budget to support local activities and members.
• We have closed Facebook Groups for MSWs and for RCM Learning Reps. These provide a safe platform to learn and share experiences with colleagues and RCM staff across the UK.
• To support our student midwives, RCM makes an annual grant to University Midwifery Societies as a contribution to funding study days and conferences, attendance at wider events or pump priming local initiatives. We also encourage societies to affiliate to local RCM branches in order to build and strengthen local relationships.
• Student members can also put themselves forward to become a member of the Student Midwife Forum which debates and discusses issues affecting student midwives at local and national levels, to inform the work of the RCM on behalf of student midwife members.
• The Benevolent Fund is our charity for supporting members facing financial hardship, helping to get lives and careers back on track. Through our partners, the Cavell Nurses Trust, we can signpost to organisations that can help and provide crisis payments. The Benevolent Fund is supported through the fundraising efforts of our members.
• Our website and active social media presence enables you to access all of our publications, reports and studies. It will put you in touch with others who have similar interests and keep you abreast of news and views. Through it you can access i-learn and many of the other benefits described here.
• Join us at our free to attend Annual Conference, where 3,000 RCM members participate in discussions and debates, share innovations and successes and are inspired by outstanding world leaders.
• RCM Members are eligible to stand for election to the RCM Board, our governing body whose role is to honour our legacy and protect our future by ensuring the RCM continues to be an effective voice for our members.

When you apply to become an RCM member you can get 20% off your MIDIRS subscription. In your application to become an RCM member you can opt-in to receive access to the world’s largest midwifery specific database Maternity and Infant Care and receive the internationally renowned midwifery journal MIDIRS Midwifery Digest from just £4.41 extra per month. A MIDIRS subscription can support you in your midwifery studies and clinical practice throughout your career.

Already an RCM member? Visit www.midirs.org to subscribe. Use the same e-mail address as your RCM membership to automatically qualify for your discounted rate subscription.

Open to any qualified midwife who has at some time registered a midwifery qualification with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and as a result is on the appropriate part or parts of the register for their sphere of practice.*

Subscription costs: £24.46 per month / £293.57 annually

Key benefits

• Subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• Employment relations advice and representation
• Legal advice and representation
• Medical malpractice insurance
• Access to i-learn and i-folio
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• Access to your local regional / national officers and Workplace representatives
• 24-hour helpline
• Access to RCM Library and databases
• 20% off MIDIRS subscriptions
• Access to either member prices or free places at face-to-face courses and online webinars to support your learning

Open to those on a midwifery qualification course recognised by the NMC, at the reduced rate from the start of the student membership to three months after the expected date of completion of training. All we ask is that you tell us who your new employer will be and make sure your contact details are up to date. Please note that after this period you will be automatically transferred onto the newly qualified rate.

Subscription costs

Student monthly rate: £1.67 per month
Student with MIDIRS: £6.29 per month
​Newly Qualified rate for one year: £12.18 per month

Key benefits

• Subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• RCM advice, support and representation for issues that arise in your maternity placement
• Legal advice and representation
• Medical malpractice insurance
• Access to i-learn and i-folio
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• Access to local regional / national officers and Workplace representatives
• 24-hour helpline
• Access to RCM Library and databases
• 20% off MIDIRS subscriptions
• Access to either member prices or free places at face-to-face courses and online webinars to support your learning

Newly Qualified

Open to student midwife members only who will automatically transfer after qualification (extended by three months if employer details are updated).

Subscription costs

Newly qualified midwife monthly rate: £12.18 / yearly rate: £146.19

Newly qualified midwives with MIDIRS monthly rate: £16.80

Key benefits

• ECM network via the i-learn platform
• ECM hub on the website
• Support in the workplace from the Branch Learning rep
• i-learn module on Revalidation
• Preceptorship guide
• Subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• RCM advice, support and representation for issues that arise in your maternity placement
• Legal advice and representation
• Medical malpractice insurance
• Access to i-learn and i-folio
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• Access to local regional / national officers and Workplace representatives
• 24-hour helpline
• Access to RCM Library and databases
• 20% off MIDIRS subscriptions
• Access to either member prices or free places at face-to-face courses and online webinars to support your learning

Open to those employed in a role within Bands 2 - 4 which supports midwives in the care of childbearing women, the newborn and their family (e.g. a maternity support worker, health care assistant, maternity care assistant, nursery nurse working in maternity or similar role supporting midwives, including ward clerks and administrative staff).

Subscription costs: £10.56 per month / £126.76 annually

Key benefits

• Subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• Employment relations advice and representation
• Legal advice and representation
• Medical malpractice insurance
• Access to i-learn and i-folio
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• Access to your local regional / national officers and Workplace representatives
• 24-hour helpline
• Access to RCM Library and databases
• 20% off MIDIRS subscriptions
• Access to either member prices or free places at face-to-face courses and online webinars to support your learning

• International midwives working towards an NMC registration will pay £1.67 per month for 6 weeks (that’s the length of the course) they will then automatically convert to £12.18 for 12 months, then to full membership. Members will get the same welcome pack as a current student midwife and the benefits a student midwife member will get. Members do need to be registered with a university or OSCE training centre and have been recruited as part of an international recruitment scheme and need a UK bank account. 
  
  Applicants must apply via this form. 
  
  
• Those who have got their NMC registration and are joining will pay £12.18 from the outset and will get the welcome pack that our NQM members get and will get the same benefits as a NQM member. Members will automatically transfer to full membership after 12 months. Members also need to have been recruited as part of an international recruitment scheme and have a UK bank account.
  
  Applicants must apply via this form. 

You can join in person through a recruitment event with an Officer or Organiser, or via RCM Connect.

Suitable for midwife lecturers who are also members of another professional body or trade union (such as UCU) representing midwife lecturers with which the RCM has an arrangement for joint membership.

Subscription costs: £18.93 per month / £227.16 annually

Key benefits

• Subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• Employment relations advice and representation
• Legal advice and representation
• Medical malpractice insurance
• Access to i-learn and i-folio
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• 24-hour helpline
• Access to RCM Library and databases

Suitable for those no longer in professional practice as a midwife or nurse in the UK who have previously been a full and/or student member of the RCM for at least 5 years. UK or overseas.

Subscription costs: £16.12 per month / £193.46 annually

Key benefits

• Subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• Legal advice, employment relations advice and representation (eligible for the period in which the member was a full member of the RCM)
• Medical malpractice insurance
• Access to i-learn and i-folio
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• 24-hour helpline - international members can call +44 207 312 3535
• Access to RCM Library and databases

Suitable for midwives who are also a full member of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and wish to benefit from membership of both organisations.

Subscription costs: £16.12 per month / £193.46 annually

Key benefits

• Subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• Legal advice, employment relations advice and representation (eligible for the period in which the member was a full member of the RCM)
• Medical malpractice insurance (for any claims notified as a result of any incident which occurred whilst you were a paid up Full member of the RCM)
• Access to i-learn and i-folio
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• 24-hour helpline
• Access to RCM Library and databases

Suitable for midwives outside the UK whose registration has lapsed or who are not currently registered with the NMC but have a recognised midwifery qualification and are registered with a competent authority, relevant responsible or statutory body in their country of employment or residence.

International membership includes i-learn access, which allows international midwives to make use of the continuing professional development opportunities we provide through online learning.

Key benefits

• Online subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• Access to i-learn and i-folio
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• 24-hour helpline - international members can call +44 207 312 3535
• Access to RCM Library and databases

Subscription costs depend on your country of residence

Our international subscription rates reflect different worldwide incomes and are divided into zones 1, 2 and 3. Browse our list of countries below:

Zone 1 countries - subscription costs

• £11.13 annually by credit card only

Zone 2 countries - subscription costs

• £55.65 annually by credit card only

Zone 3 countries - subscription costs

• £133.56 annually by credit card only

Important information for international members

i-learn content is aimed at RCM members in the United Kingdom. While it may be of interest to international members, and may be used to inform discussions with those who take decisions about midwifery care, it is not intended to override the individual responsibility of the user to follow and abide by country-specific local midwifery care legislation.

International members agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any:

• claims (including third party claims);
• losses, demands, costs, expenses (including legal costs and expenses); fines; and/or
• any other liabilities whatsoever (including (without limitation)) any liability arising out of any action brought against us for misrepresentation or negligent misstatement arising from any access to or use of the RCM website by you as an international member

Suitable for those who previously held full membership for a minimum of 15 years and who have ceased to be actively employed by virtue of retirement, have access to their NHS pension or due to early retirement recognised by employers and who are not engaged in paid employment of any kind.

Subscription costs: £5.00 per month, £60.00 annually

Key benefits

• Subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• Employment relations advice and representation
• Legal advice and representation
• Medical malpractice insurance
• Access to i-learn and i-folio
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• 24-hour helpline
• Access to RCM Library and databases

For those based in the UK or overseas who have not, and never have been, registered or qualified as a midwife but have an interest/involvement in the care of childbearing women and the newborn. 

This category is suitable for those that are interested in becoming either a midwife or becoming a member of the midwifery team.

Subscription costs: £4.70 per month, £56.40 annually

Key benefits

• Subscriptions to Midwives Magazine and Evidence Based Midwifery Journal
• Access to all RCM Publications
• Access to Blue Top Guidelines and Evidence Based Guidelines
• 24-hour helpline - international members can call +44 207 312 3535
• Access to RCM Library and databases

An honorary member is a member who was admitted as such before 10 May 2005.

If you are a UK taxpayer, you can claim tax relief on your annual registration fees. You could be eligible for at least 20% refund on your RCM registration fee (depending upon your tax band). This is in addition to your NMC registration fee.

Read more about this on the NMC website.

Certain healthcare employees who need to wear a uniform or specialised clothing for work and pay for the cost of laundering the uniform themselves are entitled to tax relief for this expense. 

To find out more, click here.