Does a self-assessment 'loss' negate the need to pay student loans via PAYE?

pd1982

Bit of a complicated query, but please bear with me.

I studied 2002 - 2005, taking out the full income-contingent student loan and entering repayment in 2006 with £11,536 of debt to clear.

I am slowly but surely wading through reams of old payslips, student loan statements and bank statements, because I think something really iffy is up with my student loan repayments.

For much of the past decade, I have been employed PAYE whilst also running my own side business, for which I have self-assessed.

In April 2008 - 2 years after entering repayment and almost three years since graduation, my student loan reached its maximum size of £11993, even though during those three years I earned above the repayment threshold.

The bit that confuses me is as follows, taking just one year as an example.

From April 2007 to April 2008 I was both PAYE and SA. I earned £28k via my employment, but I can't remember what I earn via SA. It would not have been much; perhaps a few grand.

According to SLC, I paid £36.49 in SLC via PAYE and £205 in SLC via SA. This totalled less than my interest that year, so my loan didn't reduce.

By my basic calculations, I should have paid SLC on my PAYE income of 9% of anything above £15k (at the time). This works out as £1,170.

So, where is the missing £800 or so?

It's clear during this time that my employer failed to take the correct student loan deductions, but when I self-assessed this would have come out in the wash.

Is it possible, therefore, that if I posted a loss in my self-employed business, this would have counteracted any liability in self-assessment for student loan contributions that an employer failed (erroneously) to deduct?

In other words, your self-employed business has been used to mitigate against what I owe SLC via PAYE?

I'm not moaning/bragging, but I'm just confused as I expected to have paid the amount. I remember at the time (this was 2008) that my employer had failed to make deductions even though I told them to, but that my self-assessment counterbalanced this.

Very confusing.