# Student loan protest outside Number 10. North
- Source: The Mancunion (https://staging.mancunion.com/news/student-loan-protest-number-10-north)
- By: Caitlin Embradura
- Published: 2026-09-21T15:23:56.000Z
- Section: News
- Topics: student loan, Manchester Protest, No. 10 North
**No 10. North faced its first protest from Greater Manchester's local student executives.**

Student leaders from universities across the UK, along with Rethink Repayment and the National Union of Students (NUS), gathered outside Number 10 North on September 17, calling for a reform to student loans.

Among them were members of the University of Manchester Students' Union: City & Community officer Hasan Patel and Science & Engineering officer Jack Newton.

At the centre of the demonstration are the Plan 2 loans, which UK university students would have taken out between the 2012/13 and 2022/23 academic years. [Students will repay 9% of their salary in excess of £29,835. Interest is based on the RPI plus 3% and accumulates during their time at university; it will be wiped after 30 years.](https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2026/01/beware-plan-2-student-loan-repayment-freeze/)

Led by George Charlton, President of The Union at Manchester Metropolitan University, they called for three reforms:

- Unfreeze the Plan 2 repayment threshold to increase in line with inflation
- Calculate interest rates based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rather than the Retail Price Index (RPI)
- Reduce the monthly repayment rate from 9% to 5%

![Hasan Patel and Jack Newton holding yellow signs with their student debt amount](/media/mancunion/2026/09/Untitled-design-3-600x451.jpg)

Credit: Margarida Vasconcelos

Rachel Reeves announced in the November 2025 budget that the repayment threshold for Plan 2 loans will be frozen, meaning graduates will repay more on their loans than if the thresholds rose with inflation. Coupled with fluctuating interest rates, which are now [capped at 6% for the 2026/27 academic year but have reached](https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/repay-post-2012-student-loan/) [as high as 12% in the past, graduates would be paying much more than they initially took out.](https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/repay-post-2012-student-loan/)

Days prior, students' Union officers from the five civic universities in Greater Manchester released a [joint statement calling for "meaningful action" on student loans in the upcoming Autumn budget, noting that millions were mis-sold on the prospect of taking out loans.](https://www.instagram.com/p/DdTtTnGiA-c/?img_index=2)

In July, a Treasury Committee [report revealed that the government did not inform students properly about the terms of the Plan 2 loans. They also said that comparing them to phone contracts in promotional material "amounted to mis-selling".](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5902/cmselect/cmtreasy/14/report.html)

The government [has agreed to change how the loans are sold to prospective students, but has](https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/158/treasury-committee/news/217852/government-agrees-to-change-how-student-loans-are-presented-to-prospective-students/) [rejected recommendations to ensure that the advertisements comply with the Financial Conduct Authority's standards.](https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/158/treasury-committee/news/217852/government-agrees-to-change-how-student-loans-are-presented-to-prospective-students/)