Student leaders have said that “heads must roll” following a report into delays in the payment of university loans in England which discovered conspicuous failures.

There have been widespread complaints about the Student Loans Company, with the problems remaining unresolved as the university term comes to an end. 

A report from the SLC disclosed that at the peak of delays only 5% of telephone enquiries were answered.

The Student Loans Company reply has promised a restructuring of senior management.

The report examined delays in making payments to students which meant that universities had to make emergency payments of hundreds of thousands of pounds to students who were left without funds.

The report found that the processing system was beset with problems with lost documents, failures of equipment, and difficulties with the online application system.

The report also claims that some board members of the loans company had to rely on news reports to find the full extent of the problems,  and that students who were unable to get help had started Facebook groups to share information.

NUS president, Wes Streeting said:

“The poor leadership and management of the Student Loans Company has led to disruption and hardship for hundreds of thousands of students,”

“Given the catalogue of failures identified by this report, heads must roll if the public are to have any confidence in the SLC in the future.”

Sally Hunt, leader of the UCU lecturers’ union said this has been “a total fiasco from start to finish”, with failures in service that “beggar belief”.

“Moving to university is a stressful and expensive time and to attempt to do that without finances that had been promised is just not on.”

Students have complained of problems in contacting the SLC, and then difficulties in getting any information when expected funds failed to arrive.

These problems have continued throughout the term, with some students claiming they have been told that problems will not be resolved until next year.

England’s Higher Education Minister David Lammy says there should be changes in the way the SLC is managed.

“I am now clear that decisive action is required to change the service and that the key to this is strengthening the leadership of the company,” Mr Lammy says in a written statement, but he said it was for the SLC board to hold the executive to account.

Liberal Democrat university spokesman Stephen Williams said:

“The government must not be allowed to shrug off all responsibility for this fiasco. Ministers failed to ensure the SLC was delivering what was expected of it and they must explain why they did not intervene earlier.”

“This report is truly damning, revealing a breathtaking level of incompetence within the Student Loans Company.”

Concerns about next year’s cycle of applications were raised by Pam Tatlow, chair of the Million+ group of new universities – who said that the loans company this year had “clearly failed in its responsibility”.