He paid part of the $150,000 needed for Julian Assange's bail.

He declined the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to film in 1977.

In the series "The Film That Changed My Life" (Observer newspaper UK/May 2010), Loach cited Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948) (Bicycle Thieves) as the movie that most inspired him to pursue a career in filmmaking.

Twice winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016). The other directors to have won the Palme twice are: Bille August, Emir Kusturica, Shôhei Imamura, Michael Haneke, Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne, Alf Sjöberg, Ruben Östlund and Francis Ford Coppola.

He condemned the detention of Jafar Panahi, arrested on 1 March 2010 along with Mohammad Rasoulof and Mehdi Pourmoussa. "It is a very shocking development and further demonstration of the intolerance of the regime. I hope all people working in films will call for his release, and speak out in solidarity for him and all Iranian filmmakers working under similar conditions. It is completely unacceptable." Pourmoussa and Rasoulof were released from the Evin prison on 17 March 2010, but Panahi remains in ward 209.

As of 2023, he has a record of 15 films in the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival.

He has five children: Stephen Loach (born 1963), Nicholas (born 1965, died 1971 in a road accident), Hannah Loach (born 1967), director Jim Loach (born 1969), and documentary filmmaker Emma Loach (born 1972).

He is a loyal supporter of Bath City FC.

He was a law student at Oxford.

At an anniversary screening of Cathy Come Home (1966) in 2002, Loach spoke of how the play had become an important part in making the debate on homelessness public. At the same event his producer, Tony Garnett, pointed out that the number of homeless in Britain had more than doubled "...but Ken [Loach] and I now live in much more expensive houses.".

His biography is in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 593-597. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film and television culture.

He became a member of the 'Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' (AMPAS) in 2016.

He was interviewed in "World Directors in Dialogue" by Bert Cardullo (Scarecrow Press, 2011).

Loach said in 2021 that he had been forced out of the Labour Party for "not disown[ing] those already expelled". He had previously left the Labour Party in the 1990s, reportedly in disgust at Tony Blair, and rejoined after Jeremy Corbyn's election as leader. He stood for the Respect Party in the 2004 European parliament elections and in 2013 helped launch Left Unity.

He has supported Olivier Besancenot's 2007 French presidential campaign.

In January 2019, mathematician and television personality Rachel Riley accused Loach on Twitter of promoting antisemitism.

During the 1980s, Loach briefly gave up making films for cinematic release, and dedicated himself to documentaries and television. He regretted the 1981 film Looks and Smiles, which had lost a lot of money.