Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2017 to Question 65926, on overseas students: loans, if she will take steps to reduce the number of borrowers who have not repaid their loans.

The Department is taking action to reduce the number of borrowers due to repay who are not repaying their loans.

If borrowers based overseas fail to remain in contact with the SLC, the SLC will set up a fixed repayment schedule and will place those borrowers in arrears. Borrowers with post-2012 loans who have not remained in contact with the SLC are charged the maximum interest rate of RPI+3% until they get back in touch. Further action, including legal action, can then be taken to secure recovery. The SLC established a dedicated Repayments Evasion Unit in 2016 to detect borrowers overseas who fail to comply with their statutory obligations to repay their loans.

The Department published a Joint Repayment Strategy in February 2016, which sets out how action will be taken to trace borrowers and act to recover loans where avoidance or evasion is identified. This publication can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-loan-repayment-strategy.