The student loans system was supposed to be a safe and fair way for everyone who seeks further education to get the funds they need.
It may come as a shock to some, but women on maternity leave in the UK who are paying off their student loans still accrue interest when they are on leave. Loan repayments stop if their income drops below £26,575 – but the interest doesn’t. It means that women graduates are effectively being financially penalised for having children.
Jess Brown-Fuller MP has called for urgent reform of the student loan system, warning that it is unfairly penalising women, those with caring responsibilities who take time out of work to raise children or look after a loved one.
In Parliament, Jess has highlighted the case of a constituent who had been steadily paying off her student loan before stepping back from work to have children. When she returned to employment, her outstanding balance had grown to more than it was when she first graduated.
If we are serious about equality, we cannot allow a system where mothers return to work only to find their debt has spiralled
Under the current system, interest continues to accrue during periods of maternity leave and reduced income, leaving many women facing decades of repayments simply because they chose to start a family.
The Motherhood Penalty
During maternity leave or career breaks, compulsory student loan repayments pause if earnings drop below the relevant loan threshold, but interest continues to accumulate on the outstanding amount.
The motherhood penalty is just the start of the story.
Women are often already subjected to workplace and societal inequality and suffer most notably from the gender pay gap.
Full-time employed women earn on average 8% less than men for the same work.
This means that women are being paid thousands of pounds less a year. That figure is even more alarming considering that women owe around two-thirds of student loan debt in the UK.
Leave and Return Patterns
- 89% of women who are employees prior to childbirth take maternity leave.
- 61% of self-employed mothers take some form of formal or informal maternity/paternity break.
- 9% of mothers overall take no time off work after having a baby.
- 75% of mothers take the statutory length of leave (39 weeks or more).
Post-Maternity Work Choices
- 24% return to part-time work.
- 21% return to full-time work.
- 27% do not return or leave the workforce within one year of the birth.
A gendered system
Graduate women on maternity in the UK take longer to pay off their student loans in full.
The UK government has estimated that for students starting university from 2006, the average student loan debt on graduation would take an average of 11 years to repay for men and 16 years for women.
PAYadvice.UK 14/8/2026