New measures have been enshrined in law that will transform the student finance system, allowing colleges and universities to charge different fees for different courses for the first time and opening up opportunities for adults to study in a way that works for them.
The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) (formerly the Lifelong Loan Entitlement) will give all adults from 2025 access to loans, worth up to £37,000 in today’s fees, that they can use flexibly over their working lives to upskill or retrain.
The LLE will mean people will be able to take out a student loan to pay for full-time courses such as university degrees or Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs), as well as for some individual modules of courses.
See: Transformative student finance bill becomes law - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For the first time, government departments have set individual targets for how much they will spend with small and medium-sized businesses (SME). In total, the government plans to spend £7.4 billion a year with SMEs by 2028.
For shareholders of owner-managed companies, dividends are still one of the most tax-efficient ways to take money out of the company. But with these increases coming in, it will be worth taking a fresh look at your extraction strategy.