Overview
- Ministers will hold the Plan 2 repayment threshold at £29,385 for three years, pulling more graduates into repayments and raising monthly deductions.
- IFS analysis estimates students who began courses in 2022 will repay about £16,000 more on average because of changes to loan terms.
- Official SLC data show £15.2bn of interest was added in 2024–25 versus £5bn repaid, lifting total outstanding balances to roughly £266–267bn.
- The government defends the freeze as fiscally necessary and says lower inflation will reduce interest, while Labour’s Lucy Powell labels the RPI-plus-3% interest ‘egregious’.
- NUS-led protests outside Parliament demand changes to the freeze and interest rules, as options under discussion include unfreezing thresholds, cutting interest, shortening terms, or pursuing debt forgiveness.