The government is planning to “trace” and “prosecute” students who do not repay their student loans as part of a new strategy to “ensure the operation of a fair, robust and efficient student loan repayment system.”

Under the new plans, the government will “take stronger action to trace borrowers, including those overseas”, and“act to recover loan repayments where it is clear that borrowers are seeking to avoid repayment”.

Jo Johnson, the Universities Minister, also stated that the government will “consider the use of sanctions against borrowers who breach loan repayment terms and, if necessary, prosecute”, arguing that this new approach will be “fair for borrowers and good for the effective management of public money”. He claimed that the government is “committed to maintaining the UK’s world class education system while living within its means”.

Johnson also stressed the “vital” need for a “robust” repayment system that is “convenient for borrowers” and works “efficiently to ensure the sustainability of the student finance system and value for money for the taxpayer” as more students loans are issued after the government’s removal of the cap on student numbers.

Despite this, he emphasised that the “vast majority” of borrowers do in fact meet their repayment obligations. Johnson also said that the government “will do more to support borrowers who seek to meet their loan repayment obligations”, while, “in the interests of fairness”, they “will be tougher on those who do not.”

Currently, most borrowers repay their student debt through the UK tax system.

However, for former students who then move overseas, the Student Loans Company must then collect repayments directly from them.

Speaking to Varsity about the plans, Labour MP for Cambridge Daniel Zeichner said “It is right that every effort should be made to make sure that loans are repaid”, and that“failure to do so is unfair on those who do repay.” However, he also claimed “it is clear that the Government has lost track of huge numbers of people, and that their projections about how much would be repaid are vastly over-optimistic”.

He also argued that Labour had previously warned that “the system faces financial melt-down with so many loans not being repaid, because of lower than anticipated earnings and because of people moving abroad”, and that the government “has failed to come up with a coherent response” to this. “Posturing from the Universities Minister won’t solve the problem. We now need a major overhaul of the whole system”, he added.