Committee publication · Correspondence · 27 May 2026
Correspondence from the Department for Education in response to the Chair's request for information on Student Finance, dated 15 May 2026
From: Treasury Committee
Summary
The Department for Education responds to the Treasury Committee's request for information on Student Finance Tours and analytical repayment data. The department provides 12 documents covering communications materials from 2018–2026, including presentations, leaflets, and FAQs distributed to schools. For analytical requests, the department declines to release detailed earnings forecasts due to data protection concerns but supplies repayment behaviour tables and explains its micro-simulation methodology.
Key findings
- Student Finance Tours operated annually from 2011/12 to 2017/18 using graduate presenters; shifted to school-led delivery (2019/20–2020/21) and then to Student Loans Company online resources from 2021/22 onwards.
- Only 12 documents recovered for the requested materials (A & B); earlier tour materials are unavailable due to passage of time and organisational transitions between departments.
- Repayment data for 2024/25 Plan 5 borrowers shows 72% of loan outlay repaid in real terms across all deciles; lowest earners (decile 1) repay only 10%, highest earners (deciles 9–10) repay 102–103%.
- Department refuses to release earnings forecasts used in the Student Finance Repayments model, citing risk of misinterpretation and re-identification of individuals from raw administrative data.
- Separate forecasts for voluntary repayments by plan are not produced; historical voluntary repayment totals available but not disaggregated by income decile.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Susan Acland-Hood (Permanent Secretary, Department for Education), Dame Meg Hillier (Treasury Committee Chair), Department for Education, Student Loans Company, Office for Budget Responsibility, National Audit Office, Events Management Services (contractor)
Notable line
“… the history of the Student Finance Tours as set out above, and the passage of time (noting that the first Tour now began almost 15 years ago) …”
Key Quotes
“So, the interest rate doesn't change? And while I'm studying interest will be fixed at 3% plus inflation?”
“We would not recommend sending out the leaflet, video and teacher presentation with different figures on as this could lead to negative backlash.”
“Releasing these intermediate, internal outputs would risk significant misinterpretation, as they are calibrated exclusively for the relevant repayment cohort and are not designed to serve as general indicators of graduate earnings.”
“I created a script so we knew what to include on the PowerPoint, all the information is included on the PowerPoint now therefore there is no script needed.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗