Students wait for delayed payments
Updated on 10 November 2009
Tens of thousands of students are still waiting for grant and loan payments, new figures have revealed.
Data published by the Student Loans Company (SLC) reveals 119,000 students who have had their applications approved are still due their first maintenance payments, which have been delayed for many reasons.
The new figures, for applications and payments up to November 1, show that the SLC is processing 23,000 applications.
Some 996,000 applications have been received by the SLC to date, and 865,000 have been approved. Of those approved, 746,000 students have received their first payment.
According to the latest figures, around 68,000 students have not had payments because they have not registered their attendance at a university or college. A student needs to register in order for a payment to be triggered. The SLC is waiting for a further 32,000 students to return online forms.
Around 5,000 have not had payments because they have not asked for grants support, and another 5,000 cases are waiting to have their National Insurance number verified.
Around 1,000 students have seen payments delayed because bank details are needed. Of the applications that have not yet been approved, the SLC is waiting for further information in 34,000 cases.
The SLC has been beset by problems this year as it struggled to cope with demand.
There have been numerous complaints about delays in processing applications, with students reporting documents being lost, being asked to resubmit evidence and problems getting through to helplines to talk to advisers.
The new statistics show the SLC has received 83,000 more applications than this time last year, and has made 19,000 more payments.
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