A Freedom of Information (FOI) request published on SLC’s website shows that the average overpayment over the last five years has been in the range of £500 to £570. For 2012/13, the most recent year for which data is available, 70,600 individuals overpaid a total of £40.57m, compared with £23.4m overpaid by 46,700 people in 2008/09.

In a briefing note on the issue, Baker Tilly says ‘double standards and antiquated processes’ are to blame for the problem, since while employers are obliged to tell HMRC about their employees’ student loan repayments in real time, HMRC only sends this information to the SLC once a year.

The note points out that each time the payroll is run and the student loan repayment is made by the employee, the employer has to use the Real Time Information (RTI) reporting system to tell HMRC the details of what has been paid.