SLC Administrative Nightmare - Help please!

Chazzagxo__

Hello,

Effectively student finance have messed up my application claiming they need documents that they physically cannot have because they dont exist. And the alternative documents we keep sending in keep getting rejected. This is for a CYI finalisation for the 25-26 tax year.

My application has been open since, and was sent off in April. We didn’t hear anything, and they then came back in June. They then said they needed both my mother and father to resubmit PR2 forms, and a P60u that does not exist from when my father took JSA. He stopped taking JSA on the 22nd March of 2025, so before the end of the tax year, and so a P60u is non existant.

So we sent off a P45 for the JSA claim and a covering letter as we were promised by a supervisor over the telephone, that the document would get approved.

We then heard nothing back at all until the Start of August .. on a web chat where I had chased for an update [for context, the promised date on my account for an update was 31 July, and my account is still yet showing as Pending] have rejected more and need a “HMRC statement of earnings” which has now been provided to include a P800 alongside the Annual Tax summary from the HMRC website, Calculation summary, PAYE summary and individual breakdown of tax and income for each employment recorded. We have ensured that the PAYE displays clearly the dates that the JSA ceased on this.

The core issue here is that we do not have the 20 working day turnaround time left for scope, as my University year commences on the 14th September.

Telephony staff do not seem to know, or care about what they are looking at. Nobody is able to help, and i was promised a manager call back yesterday [5 Aug] which never came to fruition. A complaint is also open with SFE [opened by email] and again, the 20 working day is all that Telephony staff can quote.

In addition to all of this, SFE have tried to claim an “overpayment” due to their document errors, and have deducted all Maintenance Loan to £0 for the year which is completely incorrect. Both of my parents are semi-retired and are unable to provide financial netting besides SFE support.

The University are directly confronting me as to why my Tuition fee Loan is not set as ready to be paid to the University. Within the last 4 weeks, I had changed my application status on SFE from Keele University [Old] to Heriot Watt University [New] so I am unsure if this is pertaining to it.

We have given this over to our Local MP yesterday [5 Aug] who have told us that they will contact SFE directly to “urge them to speed up” but they told us that “ultimately it was SFEs decision” as to what to do regarding the application.

We have no more documents left to hand across to SFE , however have been onto the account of the sponsor in question and have found that over this entire duration we have uploaded 23 documents and they still are not satisfied!

I am heavily worried that I will not be able to attend University this year due to the above situation. This has been prolonged for an extended period and seems to be coming to no resolution.

Please help!

silvercar

Can you see whether SFE have updated your details to how Herriot Watt university now?

Student loan assessment for the 2026/27 year will be based on parental income for the 2024/25 year, unless the household income has dropped by more than 15%. Are you sure you have supplied the info for the right year?

Chazzagxo__

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82093746#Comment_82093746

As it is a Current Year Income Assessment Finalisation, it was based on the figures for 2025-2026 as per my understanding of it.

i am still slightly baffled by the whole situation as we have provided every document that is available to us , and it doesent seem to have shifted.

The MP that has become involved has sent an email into SLC but im unsure what this will do for the case - as SFE seem to be hinged on the finalisation phase of the Current Year Income assessment, requesting docs that arent there.

silvercar

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82094017#Comment_82094017

It is only based on a current year assessment if you have requested it based on a drop in earnings over 15%. Otherwise it is based on 2024/25 figures.

Chazzagxo__

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82094067#Comment_82094067

thats correct. We did so for the 25/26 academic year. Now its in this loop as described above