Is my repayment threshold frozen if graduated in Summer 2015?

rich.maher1

I began university in 2012 (first year of £9,000 fees) and graduated in the Summer of 2015.

I know that in November 2015 the government backtracked on its promise that, from April 2017, the £21,000 repayment threshold would be upped each year in line with average earnings. In the article on MSE it says 'there's no change for existing graduates from today's move'.

I had obviously graduated by this point - so will my repayment threshold be upped with average earnings each year?

Ed-1

rich.maher1 wrote: »

I began university in 2012 (first year of £9,000 fees) and graduated in the Summer of 2015.

I know that in November 2015 the government backtracked on its promise that, from April 2017, the £21,000 repayment threshold would be upped each year in line with average earnings. In the article on MSE it says 'there's no change for existing graduates from today's move'.

I had obviously graduated by this point - so will my repayment threshold be upped with average earnings each year?

No. For all post-2012 borrowers, the repayment threshold will remain at £21,000 until at least April 2021.

The MSE article is unhelpful and states 'existing graduates' to mean pre-2012 borrowers whose repayment threshold will continue to rise with inflation each year as it is already significantly lower than £21,000 and the Government could have made it £21,000 from the start but chose to introduce a new threshold only for post-2012 borrowers (presumably to save money).

Note that no borrowers agreed to the current terms and conditions. What they agreed to was to repay their loan in line with the repayment regulations that apply now and in the future which may be amended at any time. The £21,000 threshold uprating was a promise though never written into the regulations. It turned out that earnings grew at a much slower pace between 2010 and 2016 meaning much less borrowers were earning above the threshold than the Government budgeted for. Hence the freeze.