New measures have been enshrined in law that will transform the student finance system, allowing colleges and universities to charge different fees for different courses for the first time and opening up opportunities for adults to study in a way that works for them.
The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) (formerly the Lifelong Loan Entitlement) will give all adults from 2025 access to loans, worth up to £37,000 in today’s fees, that they can use flexibly over their working lives to upskill or retrain.
The LLE will mean people will be able to take out a student loan to pay for full-time courses such as university degrees or Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs), as well as for some individual modules of courses.
See: Transformative student finance bill becomes law - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The government has published a technical consultation on its new Founders’ Relief. The consultation itself provides an overview of the proposed qualifying conditions for it, including individual and company requirements and what must be satisfied. HMRC’s own figures, however, show that the strict conditions mean only about 600 individuals will be eligible to apply each year.
It’s bad news for mortgage holders and borrowers as the Bank of England (BoE) raises interest rates by a quarter point to 4% for the first time since August 2023.
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