Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their latest estimate of the total public liability for student debt written off by the Treasury.

The department estimates the government subsidy on student loans issued in any particular financial year via the Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge. This is calculated as the present value of student loan outlay less expected future repayments, in accordance with relevant International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and guidance from HMT’s Financial Reporting Manual (FReM). In financial year 2024-25, the RAB charge was £6.2 billion, or 29.6% of the £20.7 billion of student loans issued.

Under the ONS’s methodology for measuring the impact of student loans, what counts to public sector net borrowing and public sector net financial liabilities is the transfer less modified interest – i.e. the portion of the student loan that will not be repaid, less the interest accruing on the portion that will. The forecast transfer portion in 2025-26 for full-time Plan 5 loans is 31%.