Student nurses will struggle to pay rent after loan overpayment error, nursing leaders say

Student nurses will struggle to pay their rent in the wake of administrative errors that mean their loan and grants will be cut off or reduced, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said.

More than a 100 nursing students were overpaid between £600 and £3,900 by the Student Loans Company (SLC) and now they have been told that they will not receive any more loan payments this year, the union says.

Second and third-year students at nine English universities received letters stating that they had received too much money in their September and January instalments and upcoming loan payments were be reduced or stopped, the RCN says.

The RCN has urged the Government-owned body to write off the “erroneous overpayments” amid concerns that students will struggle to pay their rent and bills for the rest of the academic year.

The largest overpayments had been made to the poorest students, such as those receiving means-tested grants, as well as mature students with children or caring duties, the union has said.

In a letter to the SLC, Janet Davies, chief executive of the Royal College of Nurses, said: “Students budget according to loan forecast and a sudden withdrawal of payment can have disastrous results, such as inability to pay rent. This action comes at a critical time when students are studying for exams and projects.”

She added: ”I am very concerned about the considerable amount of distress and disruption this error and subsequent action is causing. Student nurses, or indeed any students, are simply not in a position to cope with a sharp reduction in expected loan payments.”

Jessica Sainsbury, a student in Southampton affected by the error, said: “The past couple of weeks turned the world upside down. Some of my peers see no other option than to drop out if they are unsuccessful with the hardship fund application from our university.”

Emma Moss, from the University of West London, said: “This is the last thing I need in the final few months of my nursing degree. I’m worried sick about being left with barely enough money to pay the rent, buy food and travel to work and university.

"When I called the SLC in September to question my payments, they told me that there was no error. Now they tell me that I owe almost £800 and will not be receiving my next instalment.

"If they take this money from me, I have no idea what I'm going to do next."

An SLC spokesperson said: “We are investigating exactly how this error occurred and we are in contact with the students and institutions affected to make them aware.

“We do not want any affected students to suffer hardship as a result of this issue and will use our discretionary powers to defer the recovery action, if appropriate.”