#2026/87Northern Ireland increases postgraduate fee loans and updates student loan penalty rules
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Northern Ireland raises the maximum fee loan for Master’s and similar postgraduate courses from £6,500 to £10,000. The higher loan applies to courses starting on or after 1 August 2026, so affected students may be able to borrow more toward their course fees from the 2026/27 academic year. The regulations also update student loan repayment rules for people repaying through self-assessment. Late student loan repayments and deliberate withholding of required information will fall under the Finance Act 2021 penalty regimes, aligning them more closely with income tax penalty rules. Some wording is also updated to reflect “His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.”
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Key Changes
- Increases the maximum Master’s and similar postgraduate fee loan in Northern Ireland from £6,500 to £10,000.
- Applies the higher postgraduate fee loan to courses starting on or after 1 August 2026.
- Brings late student loan repayments and deliberate withholding of repayment information under Finance Act 2021 penalty rules for self-assessment cases.
Obligations
What this law requires
For eligible Master’s and similar postgraduate courses beginning on or after 1 August 2026, student finance administrators must apply the increased maximum fee loan amount of £10,000 instead of £6,500.
Borrowers repaying student loans through the self-assessment system must pay repayments that have become payable on time, as late payment penalties under Schedule 26 to the Finance Act 2021 apply to those repayments.
Taxpayers and borrowers required to deliver a return or other document to HMRC must not deliberately withhold information required under regulation 25, because Schedule 25 to the Finance Act 2021 applies to such withholding.
Where a borrower’s self-assessment return must include student loan repayment information under regulation 25, the return must include the required information so that the aggregate income tax and student loan repayment liability can be properly calculated.