Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding allocated to helping students with the cost of living.

The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year which have impacted students.

The government reviews the support provided to cover students’ living costs on an annual basis. Decisions on student finance will have to be taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure that the system remains financially sustainable, and that the costs of higher education are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.

To help students who need further support we have made an additional £15 million available increasing our student premium funding to £276 million this academic year. This extra funding will act in addition to the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship, and hardship support schemes. The department works with the Office for Students to ensure universities support students using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.

All households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount.

The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding will provide £400 support to those households without a direct relationship to a domestic electricity supplier in England, Scotland, and Wales, who have faced increased energy bill costs since 1 October 2022. This will include students in privately rented accommodation, where they receive their energy from an intermediary (such as a landlord or letting agency) who holds a commercial electricity contract.

The Energy Prices Act passed on 25 October 2022 includes the provision which requires landlords to pass any benefits they receive from energy price support onto end users, as appropriate.

Tenants should not need to take action to receive this benefit as the obligation is on intermediaries, such as landlords, to pass through the benefit and provide the information necessary to do so. If a student believes this obligation has not been met, they are advised to contact their landlord, or, intermediary to resolve this in the first instance. Within the regulations, there is also scope to pursue enforcement through civil proceedings.

Further guidance on the pass-through requirement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pass-through-requirements-for-energy-price-support-provided-to-intermediaries/guidance-on-the-pass-through-requirements-for-energy-price-support-in-great-britain-provided-to-intermediaries. Students in purpose-built student accommodation are not eligible to receive support under the scheme, as with fixed rental fees set ahead of the academic year, they have not been exposed to unexpectedly higher energy bill costs this Winter.

For students living in university, or private halls, businesses, including those that provide student accommodation, are covered by the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which provides energy bill relief for non-domestic customers in Great Britain.

The Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a price reduction to ensure that all businesses and other non-domestic customers, including universities and private purpose-built student accommodation providers, are protected from high energy bills this winter.