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Age discrimination and expected working life

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Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

There are two questions to my request:

1. What authority allows applications for postgraduate loans to be refused on the grounds of age given this in contravention of the terms of the Equality Act 2010?

2. What was the government's pensionable age when the upper age limit of 60 fo4r PG loans was introduced? What is it now? Have your decisions reflected government changes to prolonged working life?

Yours faithfully,

Jackie Cannon

SLC FOI Requests - Do Not Reply, Student Loans Company Limited

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information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FOIA"). If your
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FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Jackie Cannon

Thank you for your email dated 11th November 2020.

Your request is being considered under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”).

Your request has been allocated reference number 184-20.

We will respond to you under the terms of the FOIA and within 20 working
days.

We will contact you further for clarification of your request if this is
considered necessary.  

Yours sincerely

Louise Chapman | Senior Legal Executive
Freedom of Information Office
Student Loans Company
100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7JD
[1]www.gov.uk/slc
Follow us at [2]Twitter/SLCcomms for the latest corporate news and updates

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/slc
2. http://www.twitter.com/SLCcomms

FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Jackie Cannon

We refer to your recent email dated 11^th November 2020 requesting the
following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”):

“1.  What authority allows applications for postgraduate loans to be
refused on the grounds of age given this in contravention of the terms of
the Equality Act 2010?  

2.  What was the government's pensionable age when the upper age limit of
60 fo4r PG loans was introduced? What is it now? Have your decisions
reflected government changes to prolonged working life?”

Response

Question 1
Postgraduate loans are available to students across the four UK domiciles
of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.  There is no age limit
on postgraduate loans in Northern Ireland, and SLC does not assess
applications for students from Scotland, therefore the information that
follows relates to England and Wales only.  

Student Loans Company Limited (“SLC”) administers the student finance
schemes in line with the statutory framework laid by, and policy guidance
of, the UK Government and Devolved Administrations.  

For students applying for postgraduate loans through Student Finance
England or Student Finance Wales, the age limitations form part of the
eligibility criteria in the relevant statutory provisions, with an
applicant not being eligible if they have reached the age of 60 on the
first day of the academic year in which the designated course starts:

·        Postgraduate Master’s Loans (England) – regulation 3(3)(a) of the
Education (Postgraduate Master’s Degree Loans) Regulations 2016, as
amended ([1]https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016...)

·        Postgraduate Doctoral Loans (England) – regulation 3(3)(a) of the
 [2]Education (Postgraduate Doctoral Degree Loans and the Education
(Student Loans) (Repayment) (Amendment) (No. 2) etc.) Regulations 2018, as
amended ([3]https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018...)

·        Postgraduate Master’s Loans (Wales) – regulation 3(3)(a) of the
Education (Postgraduate Master’s Degree Loans)(Wales) Regulations 2017, as
amended ([4]https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2017/...)

·        Postgraduate Doctoral Loans (Wales) – regulation 3(3)(a) of the
[5]Education (Postgraduate Doctoral Degree Loans) (Wales) Regulations 2018
([6]https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2018/...)

We would refer you to the response to a previous FOI request on the same
topic which can be found on whatdotheyknow.com at
[7]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/j...,
which contains links to additional information, including explanatory
memorandum and equality analysis information published by the Department
for Education and the Welsh Government.

Question 2

The state pension age at the time postgraduate loans were introduced and
now is not information held by SLC for the purposes of the FOIA.  In
response to your last question within question 2, we would repeat our
statement made above, that SLC administers the student finance schemes in
line with the statutory framework laid by, and policy guidance of, the UK
Government and Devolved Administrations.  SLC is not the policy/decision
maker and has not established any of the eligibility criteria including
age limitations, with either the Department for Education or the Welsh
Government being the relevant policy/decision maker in relation to student
finance eligibility requirements.

As SLC is not the policy/decision maker in relation to student finance
eligibility, should you have any further queries we would recommend you
contact the relevant policy/decision maker directly.

Internal review process

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review.

Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date
of receipt of the response to your original request and should be
addressed to the Freedom of Information Office, Student Loans Company
Limited, 100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JD,  or by email:
[SLC request email].  Please remember to quote the reference number
above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House  
Water Lane  
Wilmslow  
Cheshire  
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Louise Chapman | Senior Legal Executive
Freedom of Information Office
Student Loans Company
100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7JD

[8]www.gov.uk/slc
Follow us at [9]Twitter/SLCcomms for the latest corporate news and updates

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016...
2. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018...
3. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018...
4. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2017/...
5. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2018/...
6. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2018/...
7. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/j...
8. http://www.gov.uk/slc
9. http://www.twitter.com/SLCcomms

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Jackie please sign in and let everyone know.