Students: Loans
(asked on 10th March 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the estimated total additional lifetime repayment cost of the Plan 2 threshold freeze announced in Autumn Budget 2025 is for borrowers earning at (a) £30,000, (b) £40,000, (c) £50,000, (d) £60,000, (e) £66,000, (f) £75,000 and (g) £90,000.
The department does not hold estimates of lifetime repayment costs for Plan 2 borrowers by earnings bands.
The Autumn Budget included freezes to Plan 2 repayment and interest thresholds for at their 2026/27 financial year level until April 2030, when they will increase annually by inflation.
The following analysis of the impact of freezing the repayment and interest thresholds to aid the decision:
Average Lifetime repayments (2024/25 financial year prices) | |||||
Baseline | Policy | Impact | |||
£ | % | ||||
Entire cohort | £27,000 | £28,300 | £1,300 | 5% | |
Average | |||||
Lifetime graduate earnings decile | 1 | £2,000 | £2,000 | £0 | 0% |
2 | £4,300 | £4,700 | £400 | 9% | |
3 | £7,700 | £8,100 | £400 | 5% | |
4 | £11,600 | £13,000 | £1,400 | 12% | |
5 | £16,900 | £18,500 | £1,600 | 9% | |
6 | £23,100 | £25,200 | £2,100 | 9% | |
7 | £31,300 | £33,600 | £2,300 | 7% | |
8 | £41,200 | £43,500 | £2,300 | 6% | |
9 | £54,500 | £56,100 | £1,600 | 3% | |
10 | £59,100 | £59,500 | £400 | 1% | |
We also do not hold the proportion of borrowers projected to repay of their student loan than the graduate earnings premium attributable to their degree.