Martin Lewis' experts warns students they're going to be worse off

The Martin Lewis Money Show Live is back on ITV, with the finance guru sharing yet more advice essential to keeping as much money in our back pockets as possible.

The vast majority of the last night's show (6 February) focused on fresh warnings given to everyone who has bought a car, van or motorbike before 2021.

Lewis, who founded the Money Saving Expert finance website, said that millions of motorists were impacted and they could be owed thousands in compensation on the subject of 'discretionary commission arrangements'.

But it's not the only warning to come from Lewis and his MSE team in recent days.

The team has taken a look at the situation with student living loans in England - a maintenance loan - which are expected to rise by 2.5% from the beginning of the new academic year in September.

While it may seem like more money in your back pocket, Lewis' team of experts say it is 'yet another real-terms cut in the amount students get to help them with living costs'.

It comes as Lewis warns that one of the 'biggest practical problems for students' is not having enough cash in their bank accounts to live a normal life.

Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire

Despite the increase for the 2024/25 season, the MSE team says students are, in fact, facing a real-term cut of more than £1,000.

This is even worse for those who are living and studying in London.

The reason why is the ongoing issue of inflation.

Inflation is the price of goods over time and right now, inflation sits at 4%.

Putting that in Layman's terms, it means a loaf of bread that costs £1 will cost £1.04 a year later. And it's an increase that applies to everything you're buying in an imaginary shopping trolley.

John Lamb/Getty

The issue is clear; a 2.5% increase when the cost of living is going up by 4% doesn't quite match.

Lewis' MSE team say: "This is just the latest in a series of cuts to maintenance loans, since inflation started to spike in 2021.

"For the 2023/24 academic year, students got a 2.8% rise even though inflation was in double digits at 10.7%. Since 2021 student living loans have been running around 11% behind inflation."

Calculations by the MSE team show that over the last two years, students living at home have been £1,064 worse off due to loans rising below the rate of inflation.

ITV

The real-term cut for those living away from home outside London is £1,265. And for those in the capital, it's £1,650.

MSE experts state that in England, if you're under 25 the maximum maintenance loan you can get is based on annual family income.

The more a household brings home, the less the you'll get.

They say: "The loan amount starts reducing with family income of just £25,000 a year – and many parents are unaware that the system implies that they should make up the shortfall, which can be £1,000s."