sfe reclaiming 'dependants grant' from 1999

floraveg

I am currently in dispute with sfe regarding a dependants grant I was awarded by my local authority back in 1999. At that time, I had three school age children and was studying for a BAhons with QTS (4 years duration). They are unable to find any supporting documents as my claim was with my local authority and was precomputerisation. Also, they have confirmed that ESCC destroyed all documents when the matter was taken over by the student loans company. I received only ONE letter regarding this matter, back in June of 2012 - requesting the recovery of £4,685 as an 'overpayment' after my grant entitlement had apparently been 'reassessed'. This specific amount, they confirmed, related to 1999/2000. I responded immediately and was told that it was likely to be an error, to leave it with them and IF I HEARD NOTHING ELSE, ASSUME THE MATTER HAD BEEN AN OVERSIGHT. To my dismay, I received a letter from them at the beginning of Dec 2015 stating that as I had not responded to their 'previous *requests' (note the use of *plural), the matter had been referred to Advantis (debt collectors) for recovery. After MANY telephone calls to both companies and exhaustive conversations, I managed to 'raise query on the account' and things were held off while they were investigated and documents found. However, even after sfe advised me that early in January 2016 that
.‘due to the length of time that has passed since your original application it is not possible to retrieve the documentation that you requested. All documents for the 2001/02 academic year were destroyed by East Sussex Local Authority. Without your original file, it is not possible to review or reassess your application. I apologise for any distress or difficulty this matter may have caused you.’ they are still insisting on recovering the debt.
Please could you advise me a) how can they be claiming a debt that they cannot prove I owe them? b) what is the time limit involved with this sort of claim? Surely 16 years is too long!
PS: I was always scrupulous about filling in forms and declaring everything that was relevant when applying for loans/grants etc.

[Deleted User]

how can they prove the debt if all documentation has been destroyed ? Sounds ridiculous. Why not give your MP a try ? You never know, they might be able to help.

sourcrates

Very tricky to advise really, certain student loans do become statute barred, however they are notoriously difficult to date as it would depend when you were due to start repaying it, it's quite a complex issue.
For that reason I would suggest calling National Debtline as they should be able to give you defenate information on this.

Also the fact they have no proof of the debt (by there own admission) would preclude them from taking legal action against you, so basically they can say what they like, no proof equals no debt, and there's nothing they can do to enforce it.