About us

We are a non-profit making government-owned organisation that administers loans and grants to students in colleges and universities in the UK.

About us

We are a non-profit making government-owned organisation that administers loans and grants to students in colleges and universities in the UK.

Our mission is to enable people to invest in their futures through further and higher education by providing trusted, transparent, flexible and accessible student finance services.

Our vision is to ensure that SLC is widely recognised as enabling student opportunity and delivering an outstanding customer experience in the efficient delivery of the four UK Governments’ further and higher education finance policies.

Contents

  1. Responsibilities

  2. Who we are
  3. Who we work with
  4. Corporate information

We play a central role in supporting the higher education (HE) and further education (FE) sectors. We do this by making timely and accurate payments of Maintenance Loans to learners and Tuition Fee Loans to HE and FE providers.

We work with the Department for Education (DfE, England), and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. We also work with the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS), the Education Authority for Northern Ireland (EANI), HE and FE providers and other delivery partners.

We provide financial services (in the form of loans and grants) to over 2 million new and returning students annually, in colleges and universities across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We have 9.7 million customers and manage a loan book worth £260.8bn.

We:

  • manage the full end-to-end ‘apply, assess, pay and repay’ process for undergraduates in England and Wales and provide the payment and repayment parts of this service for Scotland and Northern Ireland; we also maintain the assessment systems and online portals used for applications and assessments in Northern Ireland
  • manage a range of FE and Postgraduate products and services that are tailored to the differing requirements of Government Administrations, alongside various “targeted support” grants to enable people to overcome barriers to participation in FE and HE
  • administer bursary payments on behalf of many UK HE providers
  • work with HMRC to collect repayments through PAYE and self-assessment systems while directly collecting from borrowers outside the UK tax system or those nearing the end of their repayment term.

Responsibilities

We have shared UK requirements to:

  • pay the right amount of support to the right people at the right time and ensure repayment of the right amount of Income Contingent Repayment loan balances at the right time
  • provide a service designed to meet the needs of the customer, so that high levels of satisfaction are achieved for all customers at every stage of the customer journey
  • provide an efficient and effective value for money service for funding
  • use technology and enhanced business processes to simplify the student finance system, make service advances and improve the customer experience
  • put in place measures to effectively prevent, detect and deter fraud
  • implement policy and operational change smoothly
  • sustain and improve current business processes and systems to ensure that they remain fit for purpose

Who we are

We employ over 3,300 staff across four sites in Glasgow (Clyde Place and Hillington), Darlington and Llandudno Junction.

Student Loans Company

10 Clyde Place
Glasgow
G5 8DF

General Enquiries 0141 306 2000

Student Loans Company Hillington

11 Carnegie Road
Glasgow
G52 4JT

Student Finance England

The Memphis Building
Lingfield Point
McMullen Road
Darlington
County Durham
DL1 1RW

Contact form https://www.gov.uk/con...

General Enquiries 0300 100 0607

Student Finance Wales

Welsh Government Office
Sarn Mynach
Llandudno Junction
Conwy
LL31 9RZ

Contact form https://www.studentfin...

General Enquiries 0300 200 4050

Who we work with

Partners & Stakeholders

  • The Department for Education (DfE) is responsible for deciding all matters of student finance policy within their remit for England. SLC administers the student finance schemes for students from England and EU students studying in England under their direction. DfE is also the designated Sponsor Department having the primary relationship with SLC in relation to matters of corporate governance, acting in defined circumstances on behalf of all UK administrations. DfE also issues SLC’s Annual Performance and Resource Agreement on behalf of all four UK administrations.
  • The Scottish Government’s Advanced Learning and Science Directorate is responsible for student support policy for Scottish students. They advise SLC on how they wish the Company to administer their policies for relevant Scottish students.
  • The Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland is responsible for student support policy for students from Northern Ireland. SLC administers the student finance schemes for students from Northern Ireland and EU students studying in England under their direction.
  • The Welsh Government is responsible for student support policy for students from Wales. Student Finance Wales is a service provided by SLC, providing higher and further education student finance on behalf of the Welsh Government.
  • HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) - SLC works in partnership with HMRC to facilitate student loan repayments through PAYE and self-assessment. Those borrowers who are in the UK tax system have their student loan repayments deducted at source by their employers (through PAYE) or through their self-assessment tax returns. HMRC then send repayment information to SLC for borrowers’ student loan accounts to be updated.
  • Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is the UK central organisation through which applications are processed for entry to full-time undergraduate courses, HNDs and university diplomas. UCAS promotes partnership between prospective students, universities, colleges and schools.

Student finance sites

  • Student Finance England provides online services and information for those in England who are interested in financial support for students in HE.
  • Student Finance Northern Ireland provides online services and information for those in Northern Ireland interested in the financial support available to students in HE.
  • Student Finance Wales provides online services and information for those in Wales interested in the financial support available to students in HE.
  • Student Awards Agency for Scotland provides online services and information for those in Scotland interested in the financial support available to students in HE.

Funding Councils

  • The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of HE in England.
  • The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) was established to distribute funds to support teaching and research in Scottish HE institutes and to provide the Secretary of State with information and advice relating to all aspects of higher education. SFC is a single body providing a strategic overview of tertiary education in Scotland and will secure a more coherent system of high-quality learning and research.
  • Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) funds HE in Wales, using funding made available by the Welsh Government to support education, research and related activities at twelve HE institutions. HEFCW also funds the teaching activities of the Open University in Wales and HE courses at FE colleges.

Corporate information

Access our information

Jobs and contracts

Read about the types of information we routinely publish in our Publication scheme. Find out about our commitment to Welsh language scheme. Our Personal information charter explains how we treat your personal information. Read our policy on Social media use.

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