Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to introduce cost of living support for university students.

The government understands that people across the UK are worried about the rising cost of living and are seeing their disposable incomes decrease as they spend more on the essentials.

On 8 September, government announced that the energy price cap will be superseded with a new Energy Price Guarantee, which means that a typical UK household will pay no more than £2500 a year on their energy bill over the next 2 years from 1 October.

This announcement comes in addition to the £37bn of support previously announced, which will see eight million of the most vulnerable households receive £1200 support, with additional support for pensioners and those claiming disability benefits.

However, the Government recognises that students have also been impacted by the cost of living pressures that have arisen this year, and we have confirmed in our guidance to the Office for Students (OfS) on funding for the 2022-23 financial year that universities will continue to be able to support students in hardship through their own hardship funds and the student premium, for which up to £261 million is available for academic year 2022/23.

The government has also worked closely with the OfS to clarify that English providers can draw upon this funding now, to provide hardship funds and support disadvantaged students impacted by cost-of-living pressures.

Later this month, the Chancellor will set out a package of measures to deliver on the Prime Minister’s commitment to cut taxes and boost growth, laying the groundwork for the change we need in the long term to make our economy stronger.