Increase of Student Loan repayment from review of UK RPI / Price Level Index for people in Australia

bakkesukuk

Hi

My daughter, living in Australia, has had her monthly repayment figure increased by £41 because of the annual review of the UK RPI and the Price Level Index (which I understand relates UK and Australian costs / prices)

In my daughters case this is a 100% increase ! This seems harsh because a) RPI changes are usually measured in a few % and b) the cost of living in Australia is significantly higher than UK

I have had it confirmed that this increase is nothing to do with the annual review of income, but the SLC operator did not have access to the figures to explain it. She did however say in other Australian cases dealt with recently there appears to be an approx £40 increase (per month) because of this review. She has "commited" to having someone send my daughter an explanation of how the figures have been used / calculated.

Anyone else epxerienced this ?

Mike

DrEskimo

The link below will give you the earning thresholds for each country. Maybe overseas payments are difference, but the increased interest rate shouldn't affect amount repaid, as it's a fixed proportion above the earning threshold. So perhaps the lower earning threshold for this tax year has been decreased?

I can't find the document for last year, so perhaps request that so you can do a comparison with the data in the table linked below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-earnings-thresholds-for-plan-2-student-loans