There have been changes in the amount of interest paid on student loans. Apart from the BBC, the Student Loans Company (SLC) is the only reliable source of information. Here is the URL to the SLC's latest student loan info: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-loans-a-guide-to-terms-and-conditions/student-loans-a-guide-to-terms-and-conditions-2023-to-2024 

Virtually all other information on the internet surrounding student loans interest is out of date and not longer relevant!

We also have the BBC'S latest newsreel on student finance. The BBC's URL won't load in an Iframe, so we have preseved the page using an image. The URL to the page below is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-62237170

What is the purpose of going over this new info? In short, the new rate of interest is currently 13.7%. This means average student debt now costs £170 a week in interest alone. See the Excel link (left) for an overview. Just click the link on the left, to find the Excel sheet.

Going out to you docs. Has anyone been listening to anything that's been said in all this time, and since student loan interest has risen through the roof, now at a staggering 13.7% ? I was sooo glad to see that the Scottish doctors have accepted their latest pay offer. So what is that worth? I am going to tell you, whatever it is, it is not enough. Because average student debt interest is now £170 a week for lets say average student debt of £64,461 , which is simply 3 years worth of maximum student loans and maintenance loans (£20,928 x3 = £66,388).

So, which one of you is going to tell me, who can afford the staggering student debt interest of £170 per week, let alone adding another £62 a week to pay your loan off in 20 years.
 
The NHS has a unique formula. While they pay you £14 per hour, less than the minimum wage the cleaners get; they can deduct 10% of your pay to pay into your pension pot. There you gooo.... The NHS must-take 10% of your pay, away from your NHS pension; when they should be giving you a pension additionally to your pay, as a NHS pension. But this money has been put to sleep. While there is a cost-of-living-crisis, and anyone can deduce you docs don't have enough pay!

However, you're not alone, this is happening to everyone! Most other workers face a mandatory automatic pension scheme enrollment called workplace pensions; but usually its less of a percentage of your pay. So kind of the NHS to take 10%. Therefore the NHS are taking the biscuit out of you guys, while you don't have enough pay, and suffer from large deductions of your pay to a pension, as well as NI & income tax deductions, before even considering student loan repayments.

Did someone blow a fuse while they were working out how much pay docs need to live on? IMO, people have extremely short memories in these times! You see, you guys so badly need to make your studen loan repayments tax deductable.

Even before the current hike in interest on student debt, docs were set for less than minimum wage level income, after voluntary studen loan repayments. Take another look at the calculations now! You guys earn way below National Minimum Wage, and are way below the poverty line. I have compiled an Excel information spreadsheet with broad calculations which explain this better, here: https://1drv.ms/x/s!Atm1VE2THYhriQPshW48W-hkQC74?e=ZWczNE  (opens-online, Excel program not needed.)

But, why is it important? In short, student loan finance is in such a mess that there is currently no way to repay student loans. Everyones loan is set to get  quite a lot bigger in a short time all the while students are charged 13.7% interest on their student loans.
 
Apart from the obvious problem of £170 a week interest on average student debt, there is the problem of paying income tax and national-insurance, before you make repayments on your student loan. In short, and referring to the Excel sheet link (above & left), you are set to earn less than National Minimum Wage after income tax, national insurance and pension deductions. And at 13.7% interest, any repayments you make will get cancelled out! I regret to inform you, there is no humanly way you can even service the interest to make your student debt stand still.
 
I am sorry that the Excel sheet hasn't been updated to reflect junior doctors pay. But this can be used as a broad example, where we can see that under the current rate of student loan interest, some 13.7%, your pay would be wiped out if you paid the amount due; in this example, where you repay your student loan in 20 years.

Guys the government is doing nothing to help junior doctors or anyone with their student loan interest, and in the Cost-of-living-crisis!

Unless grads stop paying interest on student loans, they will never pay them off.
The least the government could do is govern the interest. But that doesn't seem to be happening!

We are trying to address some of these issue for you.
Just click the link on the left, to find the Excel sheet.
More to follow......