News releases about our business, our people, our products and our services.
Journalists wishing more information on any story on SLC should contact the Press Office:
Tel: 0141 306 2120
Email: press_office@slc.co.uk
UCAS Convention kicks off at the National Hall in London from 3rd-5th March
STUDENT FINANCE ENGLAND RESPONDS TO INCREASE IN UNIVERSITY APPLICATIONS
Responding to UCAS reports of a 23% increase in university applications for 2010/11 academic year, Student Finance England is urging applicants to:
- Apply early for funding: You shouldn’t wait until you have secured a place at university to apply for funding. If you have applied for a place then apply for your funding straight away.
- Apply online: Students who apply online have their applications processed more quickly than those who submit paper applications. It takes an average of four weeks to process an online application and six weeks to process a paper application.
- Submit the correct supporting evidence: Consult with the Direct Gov website to ensure that you send in the documents and details that you need to obtain the correct funding. Those applying for means tested assessment should send in their parent’s financial details, for example.
- Remember: you only get your funding once you have registered at your university course and have allowed 3-5working days for the funding to reach you through the bank system. Please bear this in mind when you are planning your university finances
Additional note on Disabled Student’s Allowance (DSA):
Please note that it can take up to three months to complete the application process for DSA support, which is more complex than loan applications as students must have their needs assessed externally by Specialist Staff at a Needs Assessment Centre. More than 25% of students applied for their DSA support after November 2009 for academic year 09/10. It is important to apply early for DSA in order to get the support you need as quickly as possible.
Commenting today, Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company, Ralph Seymour-Jackson, said: “There has been an increase in university applications this year and we will, therefore, be dealing with more applications for funding.
“We recognise that there were problems last year and we are urging students to apply early and online, and to consult with Direct Gov websites to ensure that they are applying correctly. We are only able to release funding once an applicant has submitted their application and the correct supporting evidence.
“Student Finance England is dedicated to ensuring that students receive an improved service this year. We are implementing new internal procedures, giving clearer advice and information to students and working closely with our stakeholders to ensure that this happens.”
For further information please contact Rona Cameron/Breea McGinness at the Student Loans Company press office on 0141 306 2120.
Latest figures - 04 February 2010
Latest figures from Student Finance England announced
Figures from 31st January 2010, published today, on student finance applications and payments show:
- £200 million more has been paid to students than this time last year
- 34,000 more students have been paid than this time last year.
- Since 15th November 10,000 applications have been received, and we continue to receive around 1,000 applications every week
- We are currently working on evidence submitted on 7th January, online applications submitted 20th January and paper applications from 9th January
- Of the 851,000 students who were eligible for payment at this point 849,000 have been paid, 1,000 were in the banking system payments cycle and will now have been paid and 2,000 were having their National Insurance Number verified
Commenting today, Ralph Seymour-Jackson, Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company, said:
"We have paid £200 million more to students than this time last year and 34,000 more people have received funding than at the same point in 2009. We’re still receiving large volumes of applications on a daily basis which is currently running at around 1,000 new applications every week.
“Applications for student finance do not necessarily correspond to the number of students who then go on to take up university places. It is in students' best interests for the student finance process to remain open for application and reassessment throughout the academic year.
“We are looking at how to improve the process in how the applications are handled for the next academic year. This includes providing better training for our staff and clearer advice for students to help simplify the process.”
Ends
Notes to editor:
Student Finance England urges students to contact us on 0845 300 50 90 between 8am-8pm Monday to Friday and from 9am to 5.30pm at the weekend.
For more information please contact the Rona Cameron or Breea McGinness at the Student Loans Company press office: 0141 306 2120.
Press statement: Disabled Allowances issues - 3rd Feruary 2010
“There are longstanding arrangements which ensure that universities and colleges are able to support students if their application for DSAs was made late or there has been a delay in processing their application.
The application process for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) is supported by specialised independent Assessment Centres that are best placed to assess individual needs for additional support. For this reason, applications for DSAs take longer than applications for other types of student finance to determine course-related needs.
We are still awaiting information from assessment centres relating to 5,179 student cases and 4,297 students, and are processing the remainder of applications as quickly as possible.
We are currently reviewing the process and procedures for targeted students in consultation with relevant organisations and special interest groups and we will also be improving the training of specialist advisors.”
Latest figures - 10 December 2009
We have received 2,000 applications between 29 November and 6 December 2009.
As at 6 December 2009, Student Finance England had received 86,000 more applications than this time last year. Of the 814,000 students who were eligible for payment at this point:
- 810,000 have been paid - 9,000 have been paid in the last week
- 1,000 are in the BACS cycle as at 6 December 2009 and will now have been paid
- 3,000 were having their National Insurance Number verified
While we have approved a total of 901,000 applications, the Student Loans Company is waiting for:
- Confirmation of attendance for 54,000 applicants
- Further information from 25,000 applicants/sponsors
- 22,000 online declaration forms to be signed and returned to us
Customers can call Student Finance England on 0845 300 50 90 between 8am-8pm Monday to Friday and from 9am to 5.30pm at the weekend. We have taken on extra staff to increase capacity and our team are working weekends and doing overtime. We have also opened up 50% more phone lines. Our customer advisors will attempt to resolve any issues as quickly as possible.
8 December 2009
Letter from John Goodfellow, Chairman, Student Loans Company to Rt Hon David Lammy MP.
Letter from John Goodfellow to Rt Hon David Lammy MP - PDF (35.9kB)
Latest figures - 3 December 2009
Ralph Seymour-Jackson, Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company, said:
"We have paid more than 99% of all students who are eligible for payment at this point and continue to process applications as swiftly as possible. We have paid out over £75 million more than this time last year.
"We continue to receive large volumes of applications every day - 6,000 in the last two weeks - but we recognise that there have been issues with processing and we are working hard to ensure that this does not happen again next year."
Response to BBC Survey - Statement at 18 November 2009
"We would like to thank all the universities who have worked so hard in providing support for those students who have had problems with their finance. We are doing all we can to resolve each and every case as quickly as possible and sorry for any problems students are experiencing.
We are working hard to ensure that this does not happen again next year and are working on a number of measures including offering clear advice and guidance including on application deadlines , simplifying the application process and increasing our call handling capacity."
Latest Figures - 10 November 2009
Target has been met and making continued good progress on late applications
The Student Loans Company has met its commitment to pay the balance of means tested support to students who submitted their student finance applications and correct evidence by 31 August, by the end of October.
Figures released today show that of the 35,000 applicants who had received an interim non means tested payment:
- 27,000 of these applicants had submitted evidence required by the end of August and have now been awarded the balance of their entitlement
- 8,000 applications awaiting further documentation or accurate details to be submitted before they can be processed, this has been requested of them. Of those 8,000, nearly 1,000 additional payments have been given since the end of October.
- We are currently working on evidence submitted from 16th September.
In addition to these, there were a further 153,000 new applications submitted between 1 September and 31 October. One third of these applications were received after the majority of university terms started. Over 130,000 of these have been processed and just 23,000 of these are now outstanding.
New applications for the current student year are coming in all the time - more than 2,000 applications were received on 31 October alone - and will continue to do so until the final deadline in May 2010.
Ralph Seymour-Jackson said: "We are pleased we have fulfilled our promise to pay, by the end of October, all students who had provided the correct evidence by the end of August. This has resulted in full payment to 27,000 students. We are sorry for the delay that these students have experienced in receiving their full funding.
"We are continuing to work around the clock to process the applications that we have received in the past two months. Even where applications are late, we appreciate that students should not have to wait long to have their forms processed and their money paid."
Latest Figures - 3 November 2009
The Student Loans Company announced today that a further 25,000 English-domiciled students have been paid from 18 – 25 October. This brings the total number of students who have been paid to 723,000 (as of 25 October). At the same time last year, 705,000 students had received their first maintenance payment.
Commenting today Ralph Seymour-Jackson, SLC Chief Executive, said:
“We are actively doing all we can to work through all applications as quickly as possible. While the vast majority of students have received their funding, we apologise that a number of students are still experiencing difficulties. We are working very hard to resolve each individual case and deal with every application as fast as we can.”
Latest Figures - 27 October 2009
We are very sorry that some students have had difficulties with their student finance applications this year and we are working very hard to resolve those issues as quickly as possible.
There are a number of reasons why there are applicants who have approved applications but have not been paid:
- Approximately 30,000 relate to applications where we are currently awaiting the return of a signed on-line declaration form from the student before they can progress to the next stage.
- Approximately 1,000 relate to where we are currently awaiting revised bank details from students (because the original details are missing or incomplete details were originally provided). In these cases, students have been requested to provide the correct details to allow application to progress to payment.
- Approximately 8,000 relate to where a National Insurance number provided on the application form for new students needs to be verified with the Department for Work and Pensions, and for which we currently await verification to allow the application to progress to the final stage.
- Approximately 107,000 relate to where students have not applied for any maintenance funding of a loan/grant and for which no payment will be made to them in this respect. However, they have applied for either that of Tuition Fee Support, or Bursary Only Support, and for which funding will be applied at the appropriate time and under individual arrangements made within their university or college. For instance, Tuition Fees will be paid directly to the university from February 2010. Or, for which the return of the attendance confirmation from respective university or college, once the student has registered, is awaited.
However, we have also paid 21,000 more students this year than at the same time last year, and have approved 43,000 more applications than at the same time last year.
Ralph Seymour-Jackson, SLC Chief Executive, said: "We are extremely sorry that some students have had difficulties with their student finance applications this year. We have been, and continue to be, working very hard to resolve these issues as quickly as possible."
20 October 2009
The Student Loans Company is reassuring applicants that it is working hard to get students their money and apologises to students who have experienced difficulties with their applications.
Ralph Seymour-Jackson, Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company, said: “We are very sorry that students have experienced difficulties with their funding this year and for the worry that this has caused them and their families.
“We welcome the inquiry that has been announced to ensure that next year we can deliver the service that students and their parents have every right to expect.
“Let me reassure everybody that we are working flat out to process all valid applications as we appreciate that students need their money as soon as possible during tough economic times.
“The number being processed is normal for this time of year. It’s a combination of all the applications which were last year processed by 139 different Local Authorities.
Students who have sent their application and correct evidence by mid-August and have received an initial non-means tested assessment will receive their full entitlement by the end of October.
The Student Loans Company is urging students to check the progress of their application at Directgov