More than 5,700 pupils have been hit by a system error which meant their student loans were not written off when they should have been, The i Paper can reveal.
The error affected students with Advanced Learner Loans, which cover the costs of courses at colleges or training providers for those who want to go to university but do not have the right qualifications.
Once the students complete their course, the loan should be written off.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) previously estimated that around 4,000 pupils had been impacted by the error up to October 2023.
However, figures obtained by The i Paper reveal the true scale of the error was much larger than previously thought, with 5,708 students affected between 2023 and 2025.
The value of the loans that were not written off amounted to £18.9m, according to the figures, which were obtained through a freedom of information request to the Student Loans Company (SLC).
The average amount that was not written off when it should have been was £3,311, with the highest being £7,840.
This led cash-strapped students to pay off loans with increasing interest rates that should have been cancelled, causing immense “stress and frustration“.
An SLC spokesperson said that all students hit by the error have now had their loans written off.
It vowed that steps have been taken to “ensure this issue cannot happen again”.
Tom Allingham, student loans expert at Save the Student, said that issues within the SLC have led “to customers overpaying or accidentally making unnecessary repayments”.
He added: “While the SLC has been responsive and tried to minimise these instances, there is evidently still some room for improvement.
“In the meantime, we’d encourage students or graduates with any form of student loan to keep an eye on their balance and repayments to ensure any mistakes are picked up as soon as possible.”
‘It made me really anxious’
Jennie Bradbury, 38, from Stoke-on-Trent, received an Advanced Learner Loan worth £2,395 in July 2013.
The loan funded a one-year access to higher education diploma in health at Stoke-on-Trent College.
The qualification allowed her to progress to a midwifery degree at Keele University.
Ms Bradbury’s loan should have been written off by September 2019 when she completed her degree. However, the loan was written off four years later in September 2023 after she repeatedly raised the issue with the SLC.
square SAVING AND BANKING More than 100,000 graduates face student loans over £100,000 they may 'never repay'
Read More
“It was really frustrating,” she said. “It made me really anxious as well because I was worried about the interest that was going onto my other loan and how it was going to affect it when I was paying it back.”
Ms Bradbury received an apology from the SLC and a £25 payment.
Unsatisfied with the handling of her case, she contacted the Independent Assessor for the Department for Education, which recommended the SLC increase this payment to £200.
Ms Bradbury also complained to her MP, who referred it to PHSO in February 2023.
PHSO chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath KC said: “Thousands of students have been affected by this and have been paying off a loan which should have been written off.
She added: “The problem was exacerbated by the fact that no one listened and no one did anything.
“Following our investigations, thousands of people have had these loans written off. We welcome the steps which the Student Loans Company is taking to stop these system errors happening again.”
The i Paper earlier this month revealed that fraudulent claims for student loans have quadrupled since 2019, with more than £90m requested through illicit applications.
Just under £71m of the £92m requested has been withheld by the Student Loans Company (SLC) since 2019 after the loan applications were found to be fraudulent.
However, the remaining £21m was paid out for claims that were later found to be illegal, according to a freedom of information request to the SLC.
Many graduates are struggling with student debt, with The i Paper recently revealing that over 100,000 graduates currently owe more than £100,000 in student loans.
Meanwhile, English universities’ income dropped for the third year in a row, the higher education regulator announced earlier this month.
The Office for Students (OfS) prediected that more than four in 10 univerisities in England will be in financial deficit by this summer.
It found that universities attempted to repair budget deficits by cutting building and maintenance spending as well as reducing courses and staff.
Read Next
square STUDENT LOANSOver £20m paid out on fraudulent student loan applications since 2019
Read MorePhilippa Pickford, the OfS’s director of regulation, said the crisis “is largely driven by a failure to recruit the anticipated levels of non-UK students”, adding that “recruitment levels for these students for 2024-25 are now projected to be about 21 per cent lower than projected last year”.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the figures supported Labour’s decision to raise tuition fees for the 2025-26 academic year, unveiled in November.
The cap on tuition fees for universities and colleges in England and Wales will increase by £285 to £9,535 from August 2025 to account for inflation.
“I asked the OfS to refocus their efforts on monitoring financial sustainability last year,” Phillipson said. “Further reforms are needed to fix the foundations of higher education, and universities must do more to make their finances work.”
A spokesperson for SLC said: “All eligible Advanced Learner Loans balances have been written off and no customer has been financially disadvantaged as a result of this issue.
“We apologise to any customer affected and have confirmed this approach to the PHSO.
“SLC has taken steps to ensure this issue cannot happen again.”
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.
If you have been charged due to a student loan system error and would be happy to share your story, please email [email protected]
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Student loan ‘system error’ sees almost 6,000 charged millions they never owed )
Also on site :
- Iran top diplomat to meet UN nuclear chief in Cairo
- The world’s wealthiest dynasty is growing richer from Britain’s SEND crisis
- The Cast of a Raunchy Cult Favorite Sitcom Meets the Star of a Beloved Children's '90s TV Show — and the Internet Explodes