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 comparative assessment she has made of the number of borrowers with increasing loan balances in (a) financial year 2024-25 and (b) previous financial years.

The number of borrowers whose loan balance has increased between the start and end of the financial year for the most recent four years is:

• 2024/25: 2,409,255
• 2023/24: 2,317,667
• 2022/23: 1,805,426
• 2021/22: 1,313,137

These figures cover Student Finance England loan borrowers only, whereas the previous number provided to Question 50912 included borrowers from all UK funding bodies.

These numbers include all borrowers whose loan balance has increased, regardless of the number of payments they have made across the financial year, whereas Question 50912 included only borrowers who made at least four payments across the financial year.

These figures cover Plan 2, 5 and 3 undergraduate and postgraduate loan borrowers funded by Student Finance England. For each of the financial years provided, the figure was generated by comparing borrowers’ loan balances between 1 April at the start of the financial year and 31 March at the end of the financial year.

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