Student Loan Repayment Plans Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Education
Daniel Francis
Main Page: Daniel Francis (Labour - Bexleyheath and Crayford)Department Debates - View all Daniel Francis's debates with the Department for Education
Student Loan Repayment Plans
Daniel Francis Excerpts(1 day, 6 hours ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Daniel Francis (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell.
As has been said, this is an issue of generational unfairness. My wife and I had plan 1 loans. At that stage, in our early 30s, having paid off our loan, we felt we could start career progression, work our way up the housing ladder and have a family. However, what I have seen in my postbag is correspondence from constituents across Bexleyheath and Crayford who do not feel that that is the case for them and feel that the system now works against them.
If we had time, I would read out the case studies of Jessica, James, Gurkamal and Stuart, and also the comments from parents, such as Adebimpe, Emma and Nicola, outlining the experiences of their children, whose loans are growing and who, unlike those of us who had plan 1 loans, are having to pay huge amounts in interest, rather than paying off the loan itself.
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) for securing this debate. I echo what he said about the key things that we need to hear from the Minister today: about the level of interest, the thresholds and how we can resolve the 9% repayment rates, and about how we can make the system closer to what I experienced and fairer for those studying today, those considering studying or those who have just been through the system.