Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what will be the nominal cumulative total of student loan debt in (1) five years, (2) 10 years, and (3) 25 years.

The department publishes forecasts annually for higher education and further education student loans in England. Student loan forecasts for England in the 2023/24 financial year can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england.

The requested figures can be found in supplementary Table 8 here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/5dd0bbff-ff5d-4387-a0a8-08dcfae39e23.

In five years, in the 2029/30 financial year, the nominal cumulative total of student loan debt is forecast to be £383.7 billion. In 2034/35 it is forecast to be £539.9 billion. In 2049/50 it is forecast to be £869.4 billion.

These published forecasts use a range of assumptions, including annual inflationary increases in maintenance loans and fee caps by the Retail Prices Index excluding mortgage interest payments.