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End Doctor and Nurse Shortages All frontline NHS and social care staff to pay zero basic rate tax for 3 years. This will help retain existing staff and attract many who have left to return. End training caps for all UK medical students. Write off student fees pro rata per year over 10 years of NHS service for all doctors, nurses and medical staff
Scrap Interest on Student Loans Extend loan capital repayment periods to 45 years. Restrict undergraduate numbers well below current levels, too many courses are not good enough and students are being ripped off. Enforce minimum entry standards.
Choice for Stay-at-Home Mums or Dads The majority of mothers would choose to stay at home more if they could. Front-loading the Child Benefit system for children aged 1-4 would give parents the choice to spend more time with their children.
NS: Whatever you think of Reform their offer is different and while most commentators would write these off there is in fact a lot of thinking behind the scenes discussion of change or leverage of loans to keep newly qualified in the NHS for years.
Plus the demand for maternity pay and time off work in year 1 is visible in lots of other think tanks. If there are over 250 women MP’s in the next parliament this kind of thinking could move mainstream.
A three-year basic tax holiday would be quite an incentive for return to midwifery. Unfortunately no one knows how it could be made to work, a classic populist idea not worked through.