The Student Loans Company (SLC) is contacting some Plan 2 graduates about corrections to their balances. Around 71,000 graduates with student loans have been ‘affected by technical issues’, the SLC warned, admitted the problem with overpayment affects around 1.3% of Plan 2 accounts.  

In total, 71,000 student loan holders were affected by the problems and have had their balances adjusted. HMRC confirmed 41,000 graduates have had their balance increased and 30,000 saw their balance reduced.

In a statement, the Student Loans Company and HMRC said they were ‘very sorry that this happened’.  

It is essential for graduates to check their next Plan 2 annual statements, although these will not be available until September, to ensure they have not been caught up in the latest student loan problem.

However, the Student Loans Company stressed ‘affected customers won’t need to take any action and regular repayment amounts will not change as a result of these issues. SLC will contact customers whose balance has increased due to these issues’.

Two technical errors meant interest had been worked out incorrectly for the affected Plan 2 graduates.

Any changes to the balance will be reflected in customers’ next annual statement, after the SLC has processed end of year loan information from HMRC. Final statements will be available in online accounts before the end of September at the latest.

One error was caused by a technical issue meaning the wrong income information was used when interest was calculated. The other was the result of a HMRC income reporting error which affected people who had income through both PAYE and self assessment.

‘Both errors have now been fixed, and interest will be applied correctly going forward,’ the Student Loans Company confirmed. 

‘If you have already paid off your loan in full, you will not have to start repaying again and if you have paid off more than you should have, you will receive a refund.’

This latest problems comes after criticism of the chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to freeze the uplift in the student loan threshold for Plan 2 graduates, with the Treasury forced to perform another u-turn on this position after a furious outcry.

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