Following on from the 'Labour minister/graduate tax' thread - medical degrees?

[dragonish]

I have a DD who plans to study medicine.

I recently read about a newly qualified doctor who was on the Plan 2 loan - he graduated in 2023. The total amount he borrowed for his training was 77.5k. Despite having worked full-time in the NHS for almost three years, his outstanding debt is now over 100k.

How is this acceptable? I know that the Plan 2 loan was particularly screwy with the interest, but if my daughter does study medicine, she will also be facing a massive amount of debt....and it alarms me.

Reeves' point that the state shouldn't fund undergraduate degrees because not everyone goes to uni seems ridiculous when young medics (and nurses and midwives and paramedics etc) are training to serve the state.

I also don't quite understand why art foundation courses are free to the under 19s, but those embarking on much longer medical degrees will come out with a whopping level of debt.

Thought the NHS was on its knees. Don't we need more doctors? Does anyone know if there are any plans to address this in coming years?

Plan 2 has a higher interest rate than current Plan 5 loans so it's irrelevant to worry about someone on Plan 2. Plan 5 is at RPI so the interest is at the level of inflation. Doctors are on average high earners so actually new medical students may well benefit from Plan 5 changes if they have a standard career path (ie no long breaks for parental leave or academia or part-time working) as they will repay the loan more quickly (as repayments start at a lower salary) and will therefore clear it with less interest accrued than someone on Plan 2.

The BMA circular shows current pay scales.

https://www.nhsemployers.org/system/files/2025-06/Pay-and-Conditions-Circular-MD-2-2025_0.pdf

@EricTheHalfASleeve - this is so helpful and good to know, thank you! I would argue that doctors aren’t really as ‘highly paid’ as they should be, tbh…but still, this is very reassuring!