More Than 640,000 People Can Reclaim Over £150m On Student Loans
Hundreds of thousands of people are entitled to refunds on their Student Loan repayments made in the 2024/25 financial year, and many of those with money owing are yet to make their claim.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) released stats showing more than 640,000 people are due refunds, with four scenarios that would result in a graduate being eligible for a Student Loan refund:
- Making a repayment, but eventually earning less than the annual repayment threshold.
- Being placed on the wrong Student Loan repayment plan.
- Making a repayment before the repayment period begins.
- Continuing to repay after their balance has been cleared.
Source: SLC
If a graduate didn’t make the repayment voluntarily, then they would be able to claim a refund in each of these cases.
What is the typical reason for a refund?
The most common reason for a Student Loan refund is because a graduate made a repayment on their Student Loan, without having met the annual earnings threshold for when it needs to begin being repaid.
A total of 643,824 people with what is known as a ‘Plan 2’ loan – which relates to loans that are “Post-academic year 2012/13 loans (pre-Plan 4 and 5) England and Wales only”, according to Gov.uk, were due to receive a total of £85,964,932 in refunds. That works out as £133.52 on average.
The figures also showed that 28,834 people made payments on their Plan 2 loans, before the repayment term should have started. A further 15,941 graduates with a Plan 2 loan made a repayment on the wrong plan, and a further 57,764 graduates had payments taken after their loan had been repaid in full.
Usually, if the threshold for repayment is met, then payments begin in the April following a student’s graduation. The above numbers are likely to include students with more than one type of Student Loan, across multiple plan types.
Aren’t these incorrect payments being refunded automatically?
The graduates who have already repaid their Student Loans in full, and have had an additional payment taken in error, should automatically get a refund. But if you think you might be in this position and haven’t yet heard from the SLC, you should still double check you haven’t made any payments after your Student Loan balance is repaid in full.
If someone is owed an amount that was paid before they reached the threshold for starting to repay their Student Loans, they also should be contacted by SLC the next financial year, to invite them to request a refund on their account.
Remember, you don’t have to have been contacted by SLC to request a refund. If you think you are due a refund and haven’t heard from SLC, then you can make the request yourself directly to SLC, and if you are eligible for a refund, it should be paid directly to your bank account.
You need the money back in your pocket
Given the problems many people currently have dealing with the cost of living, it is very important to make sure you are reclaiming any money you shouldn’t have paid to the SLC for your Student Loans. You can find more information on how to do this, and also the full stats for 2025, in the SLC’s guide to Student Loan refunds.
Tom Allingham, Save the Student’s student money expert, said: “By far the most common reason that a graduate might be eligible for a Student Loan refund is if they made a repayment despite eventually earning less than the annual threshold. This has most often affected those with a Plan 2 loan – English graduates who started uni between 2012–2023, and Welsh graduates who started any time since 2012.
“In 2024/25, the repayment threshold on this plan was £27,295. However, Student Loan repayments are taken when you’re paid – so depending on how often this is, your repayments are calculated against a weekly, fortnightly or monthly equivalent of the threshold instead.”
This threshold could be reached if extra shifts were worked in a week, or they received a bonus, or even changed job part way through the year, said Mr Allingham. But if the total earnings at the end of the year were less than £27,295, they would be eligible for a refund.
Mr Allingham added: “As for whether it’s worth actually claiming the money, the main thing to remember is that Student Loans aren’t like other types of debt. Many graduates with a Plan 2 loan will never clear the balance in full before it’s eventually cancelled, and monthly repayments are only affected by your earnings, not your outstanding debt. In other words, making voluntary repayments could just be throwing money away.
“And even if you have another type of Student Loan, or think you’ll repay in full, it might still be worth claiming a refund. An extra few hundred pounds could be a much-needed boost right now, even if it means taking a couple of extra months to repay the loan. But everyone will have their own priorities, and it may be that you’d rather overpay now and clear your balance earlier.”
Contact us
If you or your children have Student Loans and think you or they may have paid too much and are due a refund, then please get in touch with us and we will explain what you need to know.
