To moan about Student Loans Company

[CaribouCarafe]

...and their utter inflexibility during this pandemic.

Received letter from SLC asking to update employment information. The only items of evidence that they will accept for salary are either pay slips that show salary for past 3 months or a copy of employment contract signed and dated within the last 6 months.

Well I am in full time employment but due to the pandemic and company cash flow struggles, I haven't been paid for October-December. So couldn't produce payslips.

Salaries at my company have all been reduced by 10-50% since May due to aforementioned cash flow issues. Company issued a formal letter outlining that there would be some temporary salary reductions but I wouldn't want to ask the company to produce an actual new contract for me with the temp salary as I wouldn't want to create any issues further down the line (I.e. somehow make this a set salary when the reduction is only planned for a period of 9 months).

Called SLC about the situation. Utter inflexibility - must produce documents from either option ASAP or face repercussions.

It's a bloody pandemic, businesses are struggling to stay open, and employees are facing financial difficulties.

I asked whether they could give me a few months for financial situation at my workplace to sort itself out and they said no, this would not be an option.

So... now boss has decided to help by essentially producing payslips outlining what I eventually will be paid for work completed in October - December even though I won't actually be paid that any time soon!

I live overseas and have a direct debit with SLC paying twice as much each month as I would if I were living in the UK. So it's not like I've been sneaky or defaulting...

AIBU to think SLC are inflexible sods or am I missing something here?

(Employment rights as you can see from my post aren't as strong in current country as in the UK)

YANBU> Your boss isn't really helping you if the SLC then demands some of the money it thinks you have been paid. Why are you paying twice as much as you would if you lived in the UK?
Surely they would accept a signed letter from your boss?

@oiwotaluvlyday I did ask SLC if they'd accept the salary reduction certificate in lieu of the contract but they said no.

SLC also wouldn't accept any mitigating circumstances for not having been paid since August. Also, since my actual contract has a higher stated salary than what I will be paid, overall I'd end up paying less with the system my boss proposed than if I reprint my latest contract with an updated date, so it does help in the longterm.

Student loan repayments change according to your country of residence, and due to where I'm currently residing, SLC charges me almost double than they would for the same salary in the UK - nothing I can do about that!

Am interested in the "YABU" voter - I would have liked to hear that argument, just in case I've missed something?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to request payslips for the last 3 months.
The root of the problem here is your employer, not the SLC. He should have given you payslips with the actual paid amount (£0.00).

@Cocomarine I like that idea, would have been worth a go. Do you think SLC would accept that without any qualms? The help centre didnt offer it as a solution and just told me to get my contract amended and upload it to the system

The problem with flexibility, is that a huge number of people then want to produce any number of different documents that may or may not be forged. If you go some years down the line and SLC need to investigate you, then your payslips can be checked against government records (even if non-UK) because a payslip is - in many if not all countries - a standard document which will include certain information according to the laws of that country that will make it fairly auditable.

Lots of people basically producing their own documentation makes the standard calculation difficult, and later investigation VERY difficult. It increases the workload at SLC, and the cost to them.

I do believe that there should be an element of flexibility in ANY system - but that that should be a last resort well beyond you pushing your employer for a proper payslip.

You’d be surprised I expect, at just how many requests for “flexibility” there are.

I am sympathetic to your situation - just overall think SLC are NBU.

Agree - your employer is the problem not the SLC. Can't believe you've just accepted zero pay for three months to be honest, and still done the work....

[quote CaribouCarafe]@Cocomarine I like that idea, would have been worth a go. Do you think SLC would accept that without any qualms? The help centre didnt offer it as a solution and just told me to get my contract amended and upload it to the system[/quote]
No idea if they’d accept it! But I don’t see why not. Definitely ask before pushing your boss. Good luck! And sorry about the Covid effect 😕

I hate them. They once fined me for. It providing paperwork they asked for. I phoned them and they said oh yea sorry you did provide it, we will remove the fine. I asked could I have proof of that, they said no for "data protection". Ok can I have your name for reference. No for data protection. I gave up in the end. I assume I paid the fine when I paid it off.

I think I'm mostly surprised that they couldn't put a hold on the need for documents for a few months, especially since lots of workplaces are struggling at the moment and people's situations are becoming increasingly stressful and complex. I get the need for the formal documentation but it's essentially backed me into a corner where I either procure essentially inaccurate documents or documents that will be potentially problematic (I highly doubt they wouldn't get back to me about payslips showing £0 paid!). I guess I just wanted a moan about it!

I also lived abroad and they just couldn't ever figure it out. I ended up paying Hugo amounts every month then just cleared it

@titchy where I am I have limited employment rights and the same situation is happening across the board in my (niche) industry because the government isnt paying out on its contracts. I'm in a country where it would be extremely unwise to take government to court. So I'm stuck. On paper my company is fine (we are owed millions by government and it does eventually get paid)

Sorry, I think you're being slightly unreasonable. Your company expects you to work for no pay but it's the SLC that are being unreasonable?

@alienspiderbee I guess you're right. It's just that I used to work for a credit company and we were always very nice with people falling on hard times so got a bit blindsided by there not being any systems in place from SLC to push back the date for documents to be submitted!

I'm not surprised they were confused. You're working, not on a zero hours contract, haven't been paid for exactly the amount of time they need payslips for. You've basically been a volunteer since October.

Ha! Yeah I often tell my boss that I'm basically doing my bit for charity and spending 8 hours a day on a really boring hobby

Why can’t employer give a copy of your contract?

@regularsizedrudy because then I'd end up paying more overall - I got promoted last year and put on a new contract but due to cashflow struggles caused by the pandemic my salary never actually increased in real terms. So if I share that contract with SLC they will assume my salary has increased by 50% and to calculate my payments accordingly, when in reality I have not been paid for the last 3 months and when I do get paid it will be at the amount of my old salary.

I also dont want to cause any complications by amending my contract when I already have a separate formal document in place that already states that my salary has been reduced due to the COVID pandemic.

And since the bastards are also charging me almost twice what I would pay if I were living in the UK there's no way I'd want to give them a chance to take even more money from me!

The paying more back issue is something I believe that is based on the differences in living costs compared to the UK and is set by the government. SLC then implement it. I do appreciate your situation but agree with pp in that the issue is your employer. It's also very hard to offer flexibility to everyone when your customer base runs into millions. So any concession offered would be as a last resort rather than as standard.

@sHREDDIES19 - No idea how they worked out this conversion rate. My costs in current country are London rates! Plus the "lower taxes" end up not being lower at all because current country charges admin fees for everything plus no free healthcare and limited public services. I'm feeling a bit sore about it as you can see

Sooo they want to know what you earn so they can work out how much you need to pay back per month.. and you don’t want them to know because you don’t want to pay back what you owe? You might not be being paid now but that’s not there problem. It all sounds very dodgy.

@Regularsizedrudy not really a fair assessment - more that I would have shared with them my payslips if I had been paid but didnt have any and I wouldn't want to be charged repayments for a higher salary than I actually get paid. I've never got paid the stated salary on my contract so why should I pay them that rate?

How long have you worked for your employer? You've always been paid less than your contract states and haven't been paid at all the last 3 months. Are you looking for another job?

@slashlover it's been 3 years now. For the first 2 years I was paid on time with a competitive salary, good benefits, and a work funded masters. The job itself is good and the company itself is also good (both in terms of colleagues and career progression).

I got promoted around the start of the pandemic with a new contract that stated my new salary would become effective in April. However I have never received this increased salary as that's when the government suddenly decided they weren't going to pay out their contracts. The directors at my company have done everything they can to try and pay us and this is something that is happening across the sector I work in.

So jumping ship would be a really bad idea - I'd end up having to pay back the tuition fees for my Masters, theres no guarantee new company could pay me on time, and theres a chance I would end up on a lower salary than I'm currently on. Plus the work culture in this country is...not nice, whereas my company is. I also get longer annual leave at my current workplace and longer maternity leave (150 days as opposed to 45) than I would in any other company.