Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason maximum tuition fee levels for the 2028-29 academic year have not been published; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of publishing tuition fee levels a limited number of years in advance on families’ ability to plan financially for three-year degree courses.

The higher education (HE) sector needs a secure financial footing to face the challenges of the next decade, and to ensure that all students can be confident they will receive the world-class HE experience they deserve.

The department plans to provide long-term certainty over future funding for the sector, so that it can focus on reform. That is why we have increased tuition fee caps for all HE providers in line with forecast inflation in 2026/27 and 2027/28, and we will legislate when parliamentary time allows to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.

The government uses the Office for Budget Responsibility’s RPIX inflation forecasts to determine tuition fee cap uplifts. These inflation forecasts can change over time. Using a later forecast for 2028/29 will ensure that the uplifts are fair to both students and providers.