Scenario 4: Rosie, Prosthetist, 30 on maternity leave

Assuming Rosie has accessed a full student loan (tuition fees and maintenance loan) and based on the current NHS pay scale. Rosie was working as a Prosthetist, had reached Band 6 on the NHS pay scale, and was earning £32,525 a year but has recently taken maternity leave and for this period will be receiving Statutory Maternity Pay rather than her usual salary. 

Prior to her maternity leave, Rose was repaying £73 a month. This will change during her Statutory Maternity Pay. For the first six weeks of her maternity leave, Rosie will be getting 90% of her average weekly salary and her repayment amount will fall accordingly.

After the initial six weeks her weekly Statutory Maternity Pay will switch to £148.68 per week for the remaining weeks. This is below the weekly repayment threshold so she will not be making any student loan repayments during this time. However, her 30-year repayment period will keep on counting down. 

It is only when/if Rosie returns to work and earns over the threshold that she will again begin to make repayments, unless she decides to make some voluntary contributions. 

The income of Rosie’s spouse/civil partner is not taken into account, even during the time she is earning under the repayment threshold.