Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide English students with additional maintenance support in response to the rising cost of living.

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

The government reviews living costs support on an annual basis and has continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs each year. On 11 January 2023, the department announced a one-off reallocation of funding to add £15 million to this year's student premium, to support additional hardship requests. There is now £276 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support students who need additional help. This extra funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship, and hardship support schemes.

The department works with the Office for Students to make it clear that universities can draw on this funding to boost their own hardship funds and support students in need. We welcome the fact that many Universities have allocated additional money to hardship, scholarship and bursary funds to support students. Universities will have detail available about these funds on their websites.

In the 2022/23 academic year, there has been an increase of 2.3%, and there will be a further increase of 2.8% for the 2023/24 academic year. Decisions on student finance have had to be taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of higher education are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university. Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the tax year 2022-23 has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.

Loans for living costs are a contribution towards students’ living costs while attending university. The highest levels of support are targeted at students who need it the most, such as students from low-income families.

To help with the cost of living all households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Act 2022, passed on 25 October 2022, includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this act are set out in the legislation.

A Treasury-led review is being undertaken to consider how to support households with energy bills after April 2023.

Any student who has concerns should speak to their university about securing additional support.