Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of student loan borrowers in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland whose outstanding loan balance increased despite making regular repayments, broken down by repayment plan, in each of the last five years.

The table below shows the number of borrowers funded by Student Finance England whose loans had become liable for repayment and whose outstanding balance increased despite making regular repayments, because interest added during the financial year exceeded the amount repaid. The figures are rounded to the nearest thousand borrower and are shown by repayment plan for each of the last five financial years. A borrower may hold a loan of more than one type and therefore may be included in more than one plan category. Any outstanding balance, including accrued interest, is cancelled at the end of the loan term, with no detriment to the borrower.

Over the past five years, the total number of borrowers with Plan 2 and 3 repayments plans with loans which have become liable to repay has increased each year.

For this analysis, a borrower is considered to have made regular repayments if they have made at least four repayments during the financial year. This may include borrowers who ceased making repayments, or who ceased being liable to repay, part-way through the year. Fewer borrowers would have seen their balance increase while making repayments in all twelve months.

Figures are for borrowers funded by Student Finance England who were domiciled in England when they took out their loan and studied at a UK university, including those in the devolved administrations. Borrowers may now be living anywhere in the UK. Education is a devolved matter and the devolved governments are responsible for providing equivalent figures for borrowers who were domiciled in their nation at the point of loan application.