Why we support the next generation of maternity professionals

At Fletchers, we represent families when something has gone wrong during pregnancy or birth. We see what happens when avoidable harm changes a family’s future. A child may need lifelong support and parents may have to become full-time carers. Families can face uncertainty about what their future will look like.

Our job is to help families understand what happened and seek justice when negligent care caused harm. Throughout the years of supporting families, it has become clearer and clearer that the best outcome is for families to receive safe, high-quality care in the first place.

Our ‘For Every Birth. For Every Baby. For Every Family’ campaign brings together the work we do for families with our wider efforts to champion better maternity care. Our aim is to platform the experience of families’ to support learning and drive positive change across maternity services.

We cannot change every outcome. But we can listen to families and raise concerns when care has fallen below the required standard. We can share what we learn from our work and support conversations about maternity safety. We know these conversations mean working with and supporting those working within maternity services.

The government also recognises the importance of supporting newly qualified midwives. In June 2026, it was announced that more than £10.6 million would be allocated to funding 1,000 temporary roles for newly qualified midwives in England. The funding is designed to help graduates move into NHS employment and gain experience at the start of their careers. It is also intended to help prevent newly qualified midwives from leaving the profession.

The pledge comes at a time when maternity services are facing criticism about understaffing and are under pressure to strengthen their workforce. Supporting newly qualified midwives into their first roles can help retain skilled professionals within maternity services and create opportunities to develop their careers.  This pledge could improve the safety of patients and help make sure there is a consistent standard of care.

For us, this reinforces why supporting maternity training matters. The government’s funding can help create opportunities for newly qualified midwives to enter the profession, while our grants can help maternity professionals access additional training and development throughout their careers.

We know that maternity professionals work under significant pressure. Training cannot remove every challenge facing maternity services. However, it can help professionals keep developing their knowledge and skills. We understand how a concern raised slightly earlier, or symptoms noticed quicker makes all the difference to families.

When maternity professionals have access to good learning opportunities, they can continue to develop throughout their careers. Our grants are how we support that development.

As lawyers, we spend much of our time looking backwards investigating what has happened. We examine medical records and work with independent experts to understand whether care met the required standard. We look at whether different care could have prevented the harm and that work is essential for families who need answers and support. It also gives us a clear view of why learning matters.

When a case reveals a concern about maternity care, the value of that learning should not end when the legal case does. Where appropriate, it should help inform wider conversations about safety and improvement. That is a key reason why the maternity grants form part of our For Every Birth campaign. We want to support learning before another family needs our help.

As lawyers, we spend much of our time looking backwards investigating what has happened. We examine medical records and work with independent experts to understand whether care met the required standard. We look at whether different care could have prevented the harm and that work is essential for families who need answers and support. It also gives us a clear view of why learning matters.

When a case reveals a concern about maternity care, the value of that learning should not end when the legal case does. Where appropriate, it should help inform wider conversations about safety and improvement. That is a key reason why the maternity grants form part of our For Every Birth campaign. We want to support learning before another family needs our help.

The Fletchers Maternity Training Grants Programme provides funding for maternity and neonatal professionals to access relevant training, conferences and professional development. The programme offers grants of up to £300 and runs quarterly funding rounds.

We want to make it a little easier for professionals to access learning that could support their work. The programme also gives recipients the chance to share what they have learned with the wider maternity community. That means the benefit does not have to stop with the person who receives the grant.

That is what makes the grants meaningful within our wider campaign. We are not only listening to families after something has gone wrong. We are supporting the people working to provide better care in the future.

We do not see the grants as a solution to every issue facing maternity services. They are a practical contribution. A student midwife may use funding to attend training that would otherwise be difficult to afford. An experienced professional may gain new knowledge that they can take back to their workplace.

Over time, those opportunities can help build knowledge across the maternity community. For us, that is what For Every Birth means in practice. It means taking what we have learned from families and using our position to support positive change.

Trevor Ward, a Partner Solicitor and Head of Birth Injury Unit shares “Our maternity grants programme is Fletchers’ contribution to try and avoid harm in the first instance in a maternity setting. We hope to assist those maternity professionals in the real-world scenario of avoiding harm, seeing and learning from when and how things go wrong. We hope it contributes in a small way to a better experience for every birth every baby and every family.”

If you are a maternity or neonatal professional, you may be eligible for support through the Fletchers Maternity Training Grants Programme. The programme is open to professionals across NHS and independent maternity services. It also includes eligible student midwives. Applications run through quarterly funding rounds. Successful applicants can receive up to £300 towards relevant professional development.

Find out more about the maternity training grants on our dedicated page.