Hammond announced that the Student Loans Company and HMRC will update their processes by April 2019, to share data more frequently and stop payments after a student has fully repaid.

Currently, graduates who finish paying off their student loan in the middle of a financial year continue having deductions taken out of their salary until the end of the year, when any overpayments are returned.

In 2015-16, 86,000 graduates overpaid, with the average amount being £592. This happened because the Student Loans Company does not have access to HMRC data.

By April 2019 a system will be created so that repayments stop automatically when the loan has been fully paid.

At the moment students have to go through a lengthy process the get the money that they have overpaid back.

The Student Loans Company writes to graduates when they are within 23 months of repaying their debt, inviting them to opt to pay the remainder by monthly direct debit to avoid any risk of them repaying too much.

In another Budget win for millennials, Hammond announced the introduction in Spring 2018 of a new railcard for those aged 26 to 30. There is currently a railcard for those aged 16-25 which offers 30% off of off-peak train journeys.

Report by Amy Austin