Complaints procedure

How to complain if you're unhappy with the service you've had from the Student Loans Company.

Our Complaints procedure was updated on 31 March 2023. Any new complaints received from 1 April 2023 will follow our new process.

Making a complaint

At the Student Loans Company (SLC) we always try to get things right first time. But sometimes, things can go wrong, and you may not be happy with our service. If so, let us know and we’ll do all we can to put it right. Queries can often be settled quickly and easily by phoning us and speaking to one of our customer advisors.

SLC can accept complaints from third parties if you’ve given them permission to do so on your behalf. The third party should be aware that we’ll not provide them with information we hold about you unless we know that you’ve given your consent. This can be done via SLC’s consent to share process. The third party will need to provide the security information used to set up consent to share each time they contact us on your behalf.

For more information and help with our complaints process please see our Complaints Leaflet for guidance.

Complaints should be made to us as soon as possible after the events being complained about, or you became aware of it.

If a complaint is made to us more than 12 months after an event, or when you could reasonably have been expected to know about it, we’ll only consider it if:

  • we believe there were good reasons for not making the complaint within the 12 months
  • it is still possible to properly consider the complaint

If we don’t accept your complaint, we’ll write to you to explain why. If you’re unhappy with a decision we’ve made about the student finance you’re entitled to, you should make an appeal rather than a complaint. To do this you should follow our appeals process:

Information you should include in your complaint

To help us deal with your complaint quickly please give us as much information as possible.

You should include:

  • your Customer Reference Number (CRN)
  • your date of birth
  • your full name and address (this should be the same as the one we hold in our systems for you)
  • the password (if you are a third party with consent to share)
  • details of what happened and when – include everything you want us to consider or investigate
  • what you think we should do to put it right
  • your telephone number and a convenient time for us to call you, if you’d prefer for us to contact you this way

By providing these details, we’ll be able to deal with your complaint as quickly as possible.

How to make a complaint

You can make a complaint by phone, email or post.

By phone

Student Finance England

UK: 0300 100 0601
Overseas: +44 141 243 3660
Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm
Saturday, 9am to 4pm

We welcome Relay UK calls

Student Finance Wales

0300 200 4050
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

We welcome calls in Welsh.

Closed on bank holidays.

Repayment

UK: 0300 100 0601
Overseas: +44 141 243 3660
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

Find out about call charges.

By email

You should include your CRN in the email subject.

By post

Write to us at:

Customer Relations
Student Loans Company
10 Clyde Place Glasgow G5 8DF

What happens once you’ve made your complaint

We’ll be in touch to acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days of receiving it. We’ll assign your complaint to one of our Customer Relations Officers to investigate.

You can expect a detailed response within 20 working days of receiving your complaint.

We’ll try our best to complete all complaints within these timescales. Sometimes a complaint can be very complex, and we may need to extend the time beyond 20 days to enable us to fully investigate and respond to the complaint. If this is the case, we’ll keep you informed of the progress of your complaint, explain the reasons for the delay and tell you any new deadlines.

What to do if you’re still not satisfied

If you’re not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you can ask for it to be reviewed by an Independent Assessor by replying to the Customer Relations Officer who has been dealing with your case.

Independent Assessors (IAs) are appointed by Ministers and are not employed by SLC. The IAs conduct an impartial review of your complaint but have no legal powers to overturn correctly made decisions. The IAs may make recommendations which SLC will implement, unless instructed not to do so by Ministers. The independent review concludes the complaints process.

If you’re still not satisfied following the independent review, you may wish to seek legal advice on what options are available to you. Alternatively, you may wish to refer your concerns to the relevant Ombudsman.

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