Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

To qualify for support, applicants must provide the Student Loans Company (SLC) with evidence of their eligibility. This includes evidence of their identity, immigration status and ordinary residence.

SLC have robust procedures in place to check student finance eligibility, including data-sharing with the Home Office and HM Passport Office. When required, the SLC will contact the Home Office to confirm an applicant’s immigration status and ordinary residence.

SLC makes payments of loans to students on courses at higher education providers (HEPs) and HEPs in England must be registered with the Office for Students (OfS) before students are eligible to access funding. SLC monitors applications for student finance and works with the department and the OfS to protect public money.

The total nominal outstanding balance of income contingent student loan balances for England-domiciled borrowers and how this has changed over time can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-loans-in-england-2024-to-2025/student-loans-in-england-financial-year-2024-25#income-contingent-icr-student-loan-balance.

The Government wants to see this issue resolved in an efficient and orderly way that provides certainty for consumers and firms.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as the independent regulator, has consulted on proposals for a motor finance consumer redress scheme. The FCA has indicated that it will finalise the rules of the scheme by the end of March.

The Government regularly engages with a range of stakeholders across the financial services landscape, and it is important that communication can take place in a free and frank way.

Officials and Ministers frequently engage with NatWest, as one of the UK's largest banks on a range of topics, including matters relating to SME lending.

As education is a devolved issue, the following answer concerns the student finance system in England only. The student finance systems of the devolved administrations differ from that of England.

The department makes regular assessments of the expected write-off amount of student loans issued in each financial year. These forecasts are published on GOV.UK.

The headline statistic Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge is the percentage of the loans (both tuition and maintenance) outlaid to students in a given financial year, that the government expects to subsidise, i.e. write-off.

Repayments are calculated based on income, not on the amount borrowed. Borrowers earning less than the repayment threshold repay nothing at all, and loans are cancelled at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower. The Student Loans Company will also cancel a borrower’s liability to repay a loan if the borrower dies or receives an eligible disability-related benefit and because of the disability is permanently unfit for work. It is not possible to disaggregate the pure impact of salary levels of borrowers (graduates and non-graduates) on loan write-offs.

The latest publication of the student loan forecasts for England was published in June 2023, and will be updated at the end of June 2024. The RAB charge for full-time undergraduate higher education (plan 2) loans issued in the 2022/23 financial year was forecast to be 28%.

Student loan repayments volumes are sensitive to the wider economic environment. Earnings of borrowers (both graduates and non-graduates), interest rates, inflation rates, repayment threshold freezes, policy changes and modelling improvements, all influence the RAB charge forecasts. For these reasons RAB forecasts from the past are not directly comparable year-on-year.

At Budget 2021, HM Treasury announced £3.8 million of funding to pilot a No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS), designed to help vulnerable consumers across all four nations of the UK who would benefit from affordable credit to meet unexpected costs.

This pilot is being run by Fair4AllFinance, in conjunction with their partners. Fair4AllFinance are continuing to roll out the pilot more widely and HM Treasury are working with them to meet our shared ambition to launch a pilot site in Northern Ireland.

The Department for Work and Pensions’ Credit Union Expansion Project delivered an Automated Loans and Decision tool (ALD) which has been used by over 70 credit unions. The ALD has allowed credit unions to achieve up to 40% administrative savings on delivering loans and reduce provision for unpaid debt by over £1 million. There are also third party suppliers who offer these services on a commercial basis.

The government remains committed to supporting credit unions, which provide vital services to financially under-served communities and contribute to the diversity of the UK’s financial services sector.

At Autumn Budget 2018 the Chancellor announced a new £2 million challenge fund to promote innovative technological solutions from the UK’s Fintech sector to address challenges faced by social and community lenders, including credit unions. This will help support the continued development and modernisation of the credit union sector.

The Student Loans Company publish statistics annually on student loan debt and repayment. The statistics are published separately for loans funded by each of the devolved administrations and can be found at: https://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment.aspx.

This information is published in the relevant SLC Annual Report and Accounts for financial year 1999-2000 and financial year 2015-16, both of which are available at: https://www.slc.co.uk/about-us/remit/annual-report.aspx. Please note that the figure for 31 March 2016 excludes outstanding balances on mortgage style loans which were sold by the government in November 2013 and for which information is no longer available.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. Statistics covering English student loan borrowers are published annually by the SLC in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Loans in England’:

http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/england.aspx

Information on the average outstanding Higher Education loan balance of borrowers liable to repay by repayment cohort and tax year can be found in table 5A(iii) of the SFR. The figures refer to borrowers who received loans as English domiciled students studying in the UK or as EU domiciled students studying in England.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. Statistics on student loan debt and repayment in England are published annually by the SLC in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Loans in England’. Information on the amount of student loan outstanding as of 31 of March in each of the last three years is available in Table 1. The information can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/england.aspx

The Government has taken significant steps to help credit unions compete in the personal loans and savings market. These include increasing the maximum interest rate that credit unions can charge on loans from 2% to 3% per month; investing £38m in the sector through the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Credit Union Expansion Project; ensuring that universal credit and pensions payments can be paid into any credit union account; providing £500,000 to help armed forces personnel access credit union services; and changing legislation to allow credit unions to admit corporate members.

The Government has also provided £650,000 to fund the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ‘LifeSavers’ project. This project forms partnerships between primary schools and local credit unions, raising awareness of the credit union movement and encouraging more junior savers to become members.

In addition the Government has also introduced an amendment to the Bank of England Bill 2015 to support financial mutuals. It amends the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority’s General Regulatory Principles to ensure that both regulators take account of the differences between mutual societies and other types of firm (where appropriate) whenever they are discharging their general objectives.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) values all Student Loans on 31 March each year. This is reported in the BIS Annual Report and Accounts. This value includes loans issued, plus interest, less repayments and actual write-offs during the year. The next publication of this value, as at 31 March 2015, will be in the summer.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what change there has been in the level of household (a) borrowing and (b) debt since May 2010. (200994)

The Office for National Statistics publishes details of the combined financial liabilities of households and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH). NPISH is a relatively small contributor to the sector. The most recent analyses can be found in tables A53 and A64 of the United Kingdom Economic Accounts (UKEA) 2013 Q4, published on 28 March 2014. The UKEA is available on the National Statistics web site at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/naa1-rd/united-kingdom-economic-accounts/q4-2013/index.html

Household ‘debt’ can be interpreted as the accumulated ‘Total financial liabilities’ of the household and NPISH sector. These are predominantly made up of short and long term loans. The UKEA shows that for households and NPISH, the combined ‘Total financial liabilities’ in 2013 Q4 was £1,555.0 billion. This compares with a 2010 Q2 figure of £1,530.8 billion. Household and NPISH ‘Total financial liabilities’ have, therefore, risen £24.2 billion between 2012 Q2 and 2013 Q4.

Household ‘borrowing’ can be interpreted as the ‘Net lending or borrowing’ of the sector. This measures the acquisition of ‘Total financial assets’ less ‘Total financial liabilities’ by the household and NPISH sector within a period. As such, it is not a level but a current budget of the household account.

If a household is a net lender it has acquired more financial assets than financial liabilities in that period. It is effectively, saving. Likewise, if a household is a net borrower it has acquired more financial liabilities than financial assets in that period. In this instance it is overspending and effectively adding to its debt.

The UKEA shows that the combined net borrowing in 2013 Q4 was £4.3 billion, meaning that the household and NPISH sector increased its debt on the quarter. The comparable data in 2010 Q2 saw the sector as net lenders of £6.5 billion, meaning in that quarter it reduced its debt. These data are only relative to the quarter prior. In the period between 2010 Q2 and 2013 Q4, the household and NPISH sector were both net lenders and net borrowers on a number of occasions.

Alternative data for household debt for Great Britain can be obtained from the ONS’ Wealth and Assets survey. Data are currently available for the periods 2008/10 - 2010/12.