Information on 368,000 student loans not available, says NAO

student loansThe spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO), has said that there no information relating to total of 368,000 student borrowers.

The NAO said that there is not information of current employment record or other information relating to their earnings. The lack of information may be as the students are unemployed or EU students who have returned home or UK students who have moved to other countries. The government lacks enough information to make a decision over if the students should be asked to repay the loans and how much loan should be repaid.

Students currently repay loans only when their earnings reach £21,000 and repayments are linked to earnings. The NAO report said that the Business Department (BIS) has not taken enough steps to determine if the borrowers are earning enough to repay loans. The data also showed that around 14,000 former students with a total borrowing of £100 million, who are living in other countries are behind their repayment schedule.

The Student Loans Company should increase its focus on this group of students in order to collect payments.