Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department has any plans to A.) cancel B.) pause the accumulation of interest on student loan debts when an individual is unable to work due to ill health.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As repayments are income-contingent, borrowers earning below the relevant repayment threshold make no repayments. For borrowers with undergraduate loans who earn no income, interest accrues at Retail Price Index, so the balance does not increase in real terms.
Student loans may also be cancelled where a borrower is permanently unfit for work because of a disability and meets the relevant eligibility and evidence requirements. At the end of the loan term, any outstanding debt, including interest accrued, is written off. The government continues to look for opportunities to improve the student finance system as part of its ongoing consideration of higher education funding.