Amendment (No. 4) Regulations 2022 changes take effect

Changes to the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 made by The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1335) took effect on 6 April 2023¹. The amendments touch regulations 9, 14 and 15 of the 2009 Regulations, and include the plan 5 repayment holiday and the repayment application order¹.

They were made by the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills under powers in the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998, the Sale of Student Loans Act 2008 and the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, and by the Welsh Ministers under powers now exercisable by them¹. Subject to exceptions, the Regulations extend to England and Wales only; regulation 80(3) extends to Northern Ireland, and they extend to all of the United Kingdom so far as they impose obligations or confer powers on HMRC, an employer or a borrower in relation to repayments under Parts 3 or 4, or on any other person in relation to the retention or production of information or records¹.

The 2009 Regulations set out definitions that apply to the repayment system. An "academic year" runs from 1 September to 31 August the following year, regardless of whether that is the period over which a borrower's course runs, and a "repayment threshold year" runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year¹. The "standard interest rate" on a loan is the greater of zero or the percentage increase in the retail price index between the two Marches immediately before the start of the academic year in which the loan bears interest, with the retail price index meaning the RPI All Items Index published by the Office for National Statistics¹.

The Regulations also define the loan plans. Separate definitions cover plan 2, plan 3, plan 4 and plan 5 loans, and "student loan" means any of the five¹.

The same instrument also omitted words in regulation 3(1) on 6 April 2023, and inserted words in regulation 9(1) on the same date¹.

Why it matters for households

The changes took effect on 6 April 2023, at the start of the repayment threshold year that runs to 5 April 2024¹. They apply to borrowers within the scope of the 2009 Regulations, which cover England and Wales except where the Regulations extend more widely for HMRC, employer and borrower obligations¹. The amendments include the plan 5 repayment holiday and the repayment application order, so the order in which repayments are applied and the treatment of a repayment holiday for plan 5 borrowers are set by the amended regulations rather than by the earlier text¹. The Regulations do not themselves state the effect on an individual borrower's balance; that depends on the plan the loan falls under, and the plan definitions are set out in regulations 3A to 3E¹.

What happens next

The 2009 Regulations have been amended on further dates after 6 April 2023. Words in regulation 9(2)(b) were inserted on 1 February 2026 by The Education (Scotland) Act 2025 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2025 (S.I. 2025/1350), and words in regulation 13(2) were substituted on 1 April 2026 by the Finance Act 2026¹. Paragraph (2BA) of regulation 9 is to be omitted on 6 April 2026¹. Words in regulation 15(1) were inserted on 1 September 2026 by The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) (Amendments for Lifelong Learning) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/857), which also inserted regulations 3A to 3E on that date¹. The Regulations state that there are currently no known outstanding effects for them¹.