What happens to a student loan when someone dies?
Student loans are cancelled when the borrower dies. How to tell the Student Loans Company, what evidence it needs and what happens to repayments.
What happens to a student loan when you die?
The loan is cancelled. GOV.UK's page on when a student loan is written off or cancelled says that if someone with a student loan dies, the Student Loans Company (SLC) will cancel the person's student loan. For loans to students from England and Wales that rule comes from the law rather than from SLC's discretion, because regulation 19 of the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009, which covers Plan 1, 2, 3 and 5 loans, says the borrower's liability to repay must be cancelled when the borrower dies. SLC's terms and conditions for 2026 to 2027, both for students from England and for students from Scotland, also list death as one of the circumstances in which a loan may be cancelled and never have to be paid back.
The cancellation is not automatic in practice, because SLC has to be told about the death and see evidence before it can act, and it says plainly that it cannot cancel any loans without evidence. The terms for students from England also note that cancellation may not apply where a borrower is in breach of their repayment obligations, which reflects the wording of the regulations, so if the person had fallen behind with their repayments, ask SLC how it will treat the account when you report the death.
Does the estate or the family have to pay a student loan?
No. Because the borrower's liability to repay is cancelled, there is no student loan balance for the executor to clear from the estate, and nothing passes to the person's partner or relatives. The regulations do keep in place any repayment due through Self Assessment for a tax year in which the person was alive, including the year they died, which the section on repayments below explains. That makes a student loan unusual among debts, because MoneyHelper explains that a person's individual debts are paid from their estate, with whatever the estate cannot cover usually written off. Our guide to whether debt dies with you covers how the other debts work, including the joint debts and guarantees that can leave a family member liable.
How do you tell the Student Loans Company about a death?
You phone or write to SLC and give it the person's customer reference number (CRN) together with evidence of the death. GOV.UK's guidance on student loan cancellation if a customer dies lists the evidence SLC accepts:
the original death certificate
the original coroner's interim certificate
a copy of the coroner's certificate stamped by the coroner
a copy of a foreign death certificate
Because the list asks for original certificates, it is sensible to ask SLC whether the document will be returned before you post it, and to keep a note of what you sent and when. If a coroner is still investigating, you do not have to wait for the inquest to finish, which our guide to the interim death certificate explains. GOV.UK's guidance is addressed to whoever is reporting the death and does not say that it has to be the executor.
The GOV.UK contact page for SLC gives 0300 100 0611 for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and 0300 100 0370 for Wales, both open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, with +44 141 243 3660 for calls from outside the UK. You can also write to Student Loans Company, 10 Clyde Place, Glasgow G5 8DF. If you cannot find the customer reference number, letters and emails from SLC among the person's paperwork are the place to look, and if there are none, ask SLC what it needs from you instead.
Does Tell Us Once tell the Student Loans Company?
No, it does not. GOV.UK's Tell Us Once page lists the Student Loans Company among the organisations you must tell yourself, alongside the Office of the Public Guardian and the DVLA in some cases, whereas the organisations Tell Us Once does reach include HMRC, the DWP, the Passport Office and the local council. HMRC collects repayments through the tax system, but GOV.UK still lists SLC as an organisation you must contact separately, and SLC says it cannot cancel a loan until it has the customer reference number and the evidence above. Our guide to what Tell Us Once covers lists the rest of what it leaves out.
What happens to repayments taken after the death?
Under HMRC's most recent guidance, repayments through the person's employer should end with the pay they received before they died. HMRC's student loan guidance for employers, whose section on an employee dying was last changed in October 2025, tells employers not to make student loan or Postgraduate Loan deductions from payments made after the date of death. HMRC's older internal manual is worded differently for pay earned before the death, so if the final payslip shows a student loan deduction, it is worth checking it with the employer or HMRC.
If the person repaid through Self Assessment, HMRC's Collection of Student Loans Manual says the tax year in which they died is the final year of liability for student loan repayments, which matches the repayment regulations, and that matters if you are completing a final tax return for them. Our guide to notifying HMRC after a death covers that return, and HMRC or SLC can confirm how any student loan entry should be treated.
If the person paid SLC directly, for example by direct debit, mention it when you report the death. Neither GOV.UK nor SLC's published guidance says what happens to a payment taken after the date of death, so ask SLC about any such payment when you report the death and keep a note of its answer. Our guide to direct debits and standing orders after a death explains how payments from the person's bank account are stopped.
Do the rules differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Not on cancellation. SLC manages student loan accounts for students from all four nations, acting for the Scottish Ministers in the case of Scottish loans and for the Secretary of State for Education in the case of English ones, and SLC's published definitions for student loans in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each say that a borrower's liability is cancelled on the death of the borrower. The process for reporting the death is the same, with the same customer reference number and the same list of evidence.
The practical differences are in who to call. SLC has a separate phone line for Wales, given above, and in Northern Ireland nidirect says you can call the Student Finance NI Customer Support Centre or a local Student Finance NI office, or contact SLC directly. If the person was still studying when they died, GOV.UK directs current students to the funding body for their nation, which is Student Finance England, the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS), Student Finance Wales or Student Finance NI, so it makes sense to tell that body as well as the university or college.
What happens to student finance when a student's parent dies?
A student whose parent has died can ask for their household income to be looked at again, because for many students the Maintenance Loan depends partly on their parents' income. GOV.UK explains that for a student under 25 who depends financially on at least one parent, household income includes the parents' income, or the combined income of one parent and their partner.
In England, the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 say that where a parent whose income would be counted dies before the academic year, household income is worked out from the surviving parent's income alone. Where the parent dies during the academic year, the year is split, so that both parents' income is used for the part of the year in which both were alive and the surviving parent's income for the rest. SLC's guidance on current year income assessments takes the same approach where a parent or partner whose income was assessed (SLC calls them a sponsor) dies after such an assessment has been awarded, saying it will pro-rate their income from the start of the academic year to the date they died once it has a covering letter, a copy of the death certificate and whatever financial evidence is available.
For 2026 to 2027, the surviving parent can also ask for a current year income assessment if household income for the current tax year is likely to be at least 15% lower than the year Student Finance England used, provided it is £58,387 or less, although households with income below £70,131 may still qualify depending on the student's circumstances. Where a student has no living parent, the 2011 regulations treat them as an independent student, which means their parents' income is no longer part of the assessment.
Wales: the Welsh student support regulations contain the same rule for a parent who dies before or during the academic year, and Student Finance Wales offers a current year income assessment where household income is expected to fall by 15% or more.
Northern Ireland: nidirect says students should tell their Student Finance NI office as soon as possible when household income rises or falls, using form CO1 once the application has been submitted, and that a student with no living parents is usually classed as independent.
Scotland: Scottish students' funding is arranged through the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS), so a student whose parent has died should ask SAAS directly how it affects their support.
Whichever nation you are in, the student money or advice team at the university or college is also worth speaking to, particularly if the forms feel like too much at the moment.
Are other debts treated the same way?
No. The cancellation rule in the repayment regulations covers government student loans managed by SLC, whereas other borrowing, such as a bank loan or credit card the person used while studying, follows the normal rules for debts after a death and is paid from the estate. MoneyHelper says surviving relatives are not usually responsible for paying the debts of someone who has died unless they were a joint borrower or gave a personal guarantee, and the debt guide linked above explains what happens when the estate cannot pay everything it owes.
The student loan is often one of the more straightforward accounts to deal with, because SLC needs only the customer reference number and one accepted piece of evidence, whereas the executor still has to identify every other account the person held before the estate can be valued and shared out. Our guide to finding the bank accounts of someone who has died covers where to look when the paperwork is incomplete.
What to do next
Look for the person's customer reference number in letters or emails from the Student Loans Company.
Phone or write to SLC and send one of the accepted forms of evidence, which can be the coroner's interim certificate if a coroner's investigation is still open.
Check the person's final payslip, and raise any student loan deduction taken from pay issued after the death with the employer or HMRC.
If they paid SLC by direct debit, ask SLC about any payment taken after the date of death.
If you are completing a final Self Assessment return for them, check the student loan entry with HMRC.
If you are a student whose parent has died, contact your funding body about reassessing your household income.
The Student Loans Company is only one of the organisations that need to hear about a death, and the person's bank, energy supplier, phone provider and subscriptions all carry on until each one is told. When you are ready, Legacy Trail's free notification service can tell the private-sector companies you already know about on your behalf, and if you suspect there are accounts that nobody in the family knows about, the Account Discovery Service searches for them and then notifies the companies it finds.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. GOV.UK says the Student Loans Company will cancel the loan once it has been told about the death and given evidence, and for loans from England and Wales the repayment regulations require it. SLC's published definitions for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also say the borrower's liability is cancelled on death.
No. Because the loan is cancelled on death, the outstanding balance is not paid from the estate and cannot pass to the family, although a repayment through Self Assessment may still be due for the tax year in which the person died. This is different from most other debts, which are paid out of the estate.
Usually, yes. MoneyHelper says that if the estate does not cover everything, any remaining debts are usually written off, and if there is no estate at all the debts generally die with the person. The exceptions are debts someone else owes jointly or has personally guaranteed.
It depends on the repayment plan. GOV.UK says Plan 1 loans first paid on or after 1 September 2006 are written off 25 years after the April the borrower was first due to repay, whereas Plan 2 loans are written off after 30 years and Plan 5 loans after 40. A loan is cancelled earlier if the borrower dies.
The cancellation rule in the student loan regulations covers government student loans managed by the Student Loans Company. Other borrowing used to pay for study, such as a bank loan or credit card, follows the normal rules for debts after a death, so it is paid from the estate and a joint borrower or guarantor may remain liable for it.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Individual circumstances vary. If you are dealing with an estate, consider taking advice from a solicitor who specialises in probate. For other guidance specific to your circumstances, speak to a funeral director, Citizens Advice, or a regulated financial adviser.