Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 May 2025 to Question 50912 on Students: Loans, what demographic data her Department holds on borrowers whose loan balances have increased.

Below is a table of the number of borrowers whose loan balance has increased between the start and end of the financial year 2024/25, broken down by age group and sex. This table covers Student Finance England loan borrowers only, whereas the previous number provided to Question 50912 included borrowers from all UK funding bodies.

These figures cover Plan 2, 5 and 3 undergraduate and postgraduate loan borrowers funded by Student Finance England. It has been generated by comparing borrowers’ loan balances on 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. These numbers include all borrowers whose loan balance has increased, regardless of the number of payments they have made across the financial year. There were a small number of borrowers (<5) for whom age and sex were unknown. These borrowers have been suppressed.

At the end of a borrower’s loan term, any outstanding loan balance, including interest built up, will be written off. This write-off, a government subsidy, is a deliberate investment in our people and the economy.