Half of student loan fraud at franchised providers, says NAO

National Audit Office report suggests fraudulent activity could be linked to organised crime

More than half of the fraud detected by the Student Loans Company last year was at franchised higher education providers, according to an investigation by the National Audit Office.

In 2022-23, 53 per cent of the £4.1 million fraud identified by the SLC was at franchised providers, the results of the investigation show. Franchised degrees account for 4.7 per cent of the student population in England. The report added that the fraud was “potentially associated with organised crime”.