What is the Welsh Government doing to combat the impact of increasing inflation rates on student loan repayments?
The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009, as amended, provides the basis for the repayment of student loans made by the Welsh Ministers. These regulations include provision for interest to be charged on student loans.
Repayment regulations give no discretion to Welsh Ministers to apply an alternative interest rate.
The rate of RPI applicable to all student loans from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024 was 13.5%. However, the repayment regulations provide for a different interest rate to be applied, where the Bank of England base rate is lower than RPI (for Plan 1, pre-2012 undergraduate student loans) or the prevailing market rate is equal to or lower than RPI (for Plan 2, post-2012 undergraduate student loans and Plan 3, postgraduate Master’s and Doctoral student loans). Lower interest rates have been applicable to all student loans throughout the 2023/24 academic year. The rate of RPI applicable to all student loans between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025 has now decreased to 4.3%.
Repayment of student loans by Welsh borrowers is not based on the size of their loan but rather the amount the borrower earns above a certain threshold. Any loan debt balance remaining after the applicable repayment period (relevant to the Plan type) is written off. The Welsh Government also provides a partial write-off of student debt when a Welsh borrower begins repayment, a scheme unique in the UK.