Student midwives ‘forced out’ of training by financial pressures

Efforts to boost the number of midwives in the UK are being held back by insufficient student financing and support, a report claims. 

A report published by the Royal College of Midwives on 16 September says that the number of applications to UK midwifery courses is falling, while the number of students leaving their studies before graduating is rising.

“The UK-wide call to increase the number of midwives will not be realised if we cannot attract people to the profession or retain current midwifery students,” the report warns.

Nine out of 10 midwifery students in England (87.5 per cent) said they worry “always or often” about the amount of debt they are in, and more than three-quarters said they worry they will have to drop out of their studies because of financial difficulties.

Some 91 per cent said they know at least one person who has dropped out of their studies because of financial problems, and a further eight out of 10 midwifery students in England have taken on additional debt to make ends meet.

Students across the board have increasingly reported feeling the pinch amid the cost-of-living crisis, with half of students reporting they were spending less on essentials including food and heating, according to a survey by the Sutton Trust. Record numbers of students are increasingly turning to part-time work to supplement maintenance loans as they face the sharp end of inflation and the rental crisis.

But midwifery students face particular financial pressures because the long hours demanded by their course and consequent placements make part-time work more difficult, the report says.

However, despite this, the report found that almost half of all midwifery students in England have a paid job alongside their studies, and that it has a negative impact on their studies. In cases where students are forced to take on part-time work, they can be taking on “overwhelming” workloads of 60 to 70 hours per week.

Such students are also more likely to be women, be older, and have families and caring responsibilities, which “alongside financial commitments such as mortgages and childcare expenses make it difficult to balance their studies with employment”, the report says.

Financial support for midwifery students differs among the devolved UK governments, however the picture remains consistent: 71 per cent of midwifery students in Scotland said they had taken on additional debt as a result of their studies, despite a £10,000-per-year bursary provided by the Scottish government.

Fiona Gibb, director of professional midwifery at the RCM, said students were being “forced out of their dream career before they’ve even begun because of financial worries”. 

“Their options are to take on paid work on top of their heavy study and placement schedule, to take on more debt, including borrowing from family and friends, or to drop out and leave their dreams of becoming a midwife behind them. The system has to be smarter than this, so that we don’t lose these future midwives from an NHS that desperately needs them,” she said.

The report recommends the government introduce maintenance loans for student midwives that would be forgiven after three years of service in the NHS, increase financial support with inflation, and offer “prompt reimbursement” for the cost of student placements, which can involve high travel costs.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com