Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that nursing students who have received incorrect payments from the Student Loans Company are not forced to leave their courses on account of reductions to their payments in the new term.

The government announced on 18 April 2018 that the Student Loans Company (SLC) will provide support to ensure that none of the students affected by the error suffer hardship. Students affected by this error will be eligible to apply for additional, non-repayable, support of up to £1,000 for the remainder of this academic year, and should contact SLC. In addition, repayment of overpaid maintenance support will be deferred for all students affected until they have finished their courses and can afford to repay. Repayment of overpaid maintenance loans will happen via HM Revenue and Customs in the normal way, which is how students will have expected to repay when they took out the loans.