Nurses now in additional pupil debt than docs – as nearly 10,000 stop their jobs in social care
Royal College of Nursing says the debt forgiveness scheme is only way to halt exodus from social care and staff Andy Burnham’s proposed National Care service
RCN says nurses on lower pay bands are left servicing a debt that only ever grows(Image: Getty Images)
Nurses now have more student debt than doctors, amid an exodus of them from social care.
The nurses’ union is urging Andy Burnham to help tackle their financial woes as they now graduate owing £50,160 on average. Freedom of Information requests show this is more than the typical doctor graduates with at £47,774 – despite shorter courses and nurses earning £200,000 less on average over their careers.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is demanding a loan forgiveness scheme to help recruit a sustainable workforce of nurses to enable the Prime Minister’s proposed new National Care Service.
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It comes as data shows there’s an incredibly high turnover of registered nurses in social care this year, with 32% leaving their jobs; the equivalent to 9,700 quitting. It is not know how many of these left social care entirely, but the RCN said there were 15,000 fewer registered nurses in the sector in England than in 2012.
RCN General Secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said: “The reality is social care in England is down tens of thousands of registered nurses compared with a decade ago and losing staff almost as fast as it finds them.
“A national care service meeting the demand of an ageing population with increasingly complex needs will have to be registered nurse-led. Forgiving nurses’ debt is a golden opportunity to grow a workforce to do just that, making nursing a more attractive career and building a generation of new nurses fit for a national care service and our NHS, too.
“This analysis shows how unfair things are right now. Our profession is a national asset, fundamental to the delivery of care and the health of the nation, yet nurses face more debt than doctor colleagues despite shorter courses and earning so much less in their careers.”
Freedom of Information requests by the RCN to the Student Loans Company found every nursing cohort in England since 2021 – the first to enter the workforce since the nursing bursary was scrapped – has graduated with more debt on average than those on medical degrees.
The RCN is proposing a scheme where graduates’ debt is forgiven, in return for working in social care or the NHS. It stated 30% of the loan would be written off after three years of service, 70% after seven years and 100% after ten years.
When mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham told the RCN’s annual congress in 2017 that he opposed the introduction of tuition fees for nursing courses and backed a local loan forgiveness scheme for healthcare graduates.
Mr Burnham said at the time: “So many young people will now think that it’s beyond them to aspire to go into nursing and what a terrible state of affairs that would be for the country in the future.”
Prof Ranger said: “The prime minister knows how unfair things are for nurses, but the challenge now is to act. We cannot leave the vision for a national care service, and the fate of vulnerable people, to the whims of a toxic system of debt which only makes safely staffing our services so much harder.”
Tuition fees for the final two years of a typical six-year medical degree are funded by NHS bursaries, but nurses have to fund all university fees from student loans. The RCN says nurses on lower pay bands can be left servicing a debt that only ever grows.
Nurses are more likely to come from poorer backgrounds so cannot rely on the “bank of mum and dad” to help them with university living costs. Many take out the maximum maintenance loan which is currently set at £10,830 a year for those studying outside of London.
Striking doctors have also won percentage pay rises much higher than those granted to nurses and other NHS staff in recent years.
Prof Ranger added: “This isn’t about pitting doctors against nurses but tackling a deep injustice which makes it harder to attract and keep the nurses we desperately need.
“The evidence is clear, loan forgiveness will deliver better staffed services, improve care and pay for itself over and over again.”
Mr Burnham is consulting on proposals for a National Care Service and seeking cross party agreement but this would not be implemented until the next Parliament.
The intervention by the RCN comes as the Prime Minister and his Chancellor John Healey are preparing to publish their Autumn Budget next Wednesday.
The government has been approached for comment.
