1. Executive Summary

Following an investigation led by Rupert Lowe, official data from the Department for Education (DfE) and the Student Loans Company (SLC) has identified a substantial fiscal gap within the UK student loan system. The data confirms over £12.8 billion in loans where borrower income cannot be verified, alongside a sharp rise in fraud cases linked to migrant worker status.

2. Key Data Points

Ministerial responses provided to Mr. Lowe by Josh MacAlister MP in February 2026 reveal the following:

• Unverified Income Total: Loans totaling £12,801,872,323 are currently held by borrowers whose income remains unverified.
• Borrower Volume: This figure represents approximately 376,410 individuals, or 6.64% of the total loan volume in repayment.
• Primary Causes: The government attributes this lack of verification to borrowers having no employment details recorded by HMRC or borrowers moving overseas and exiting the UK tax system.

3. Escalation of Student Finance Fraud

The investigation uncovered a significant rise in detected fraud specifically relating to migrant worker status:

The DfE notes this increase is due to a "collective and increased focus on fraud" and a specific law enforcement referral initiated in 2022.

4. International Repayment Compliance

The findings also highlighted the disparity in repayment rates between domestic and international borrowers:

• Compliance Disparity: Repayment compliance for UK borrowers is 62.3%, compared to 55.4% for EU borrowers.
• Evasion Recovery: The SLC’s Repayment Evasion Unit successfully recovered £7.7 million from non-compliant overseas borrowers in the 2024/25 financial year.

Source: Data officially confirmed by the Department for Education in response to inquiries by Rupert Lowe MP.