Select committee: Treasury Committee
Conclusion 22
1st Report – Student loans: Broken and unfair?
Published 7 Jul 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Treasury Committee Student loans and taxation of graduates All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
When asked about its compliance with the ‘red hand doctrine’, the SLC’s defence was that a student loan is not contractual, so it need not comply, and that in any case legal responsibility for its application forms actually lies with the Secretary of State for Education. When we asked Baroness Smith about previous mis-selling, however, she argued that the SLC had apologised. (Conclusion, Paragraph 87)
From: Treasury Committee, 1st Report – Student loans: Broken and unfair? (HC 14), 7 July 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 13 September 2026 (deadline 7 September 2026).