Employee acoustic shock

The request was refused by Student Loans Company Limited.

Dear Student Loans Company Limited,
Please could you provide me with the following, how many employees over the last 10 years have suffered from acoustic shock, resulting in short or long term sickness whilst at their place of work, please could you quantify this into area establishments.

Yours faithfully,
Mr Kevin Glancey

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

This is an automated response to let you know that your email has been
received by the Student Loans Company Limited ("SLC").

SLC's Freedom of Information Office is only able to deal with requests for
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FOIA"). If your
email relates to a request for information under the FOIA, a separate
acknowledgement will be issued with a request reference.

If your email is in relation to a student finance application or account
enquiry, and you have provided sufficient details to identify your account,

your email will be passed to the relevant department. Alternatively,
please contact us using the customer contact details available at
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati....

If your email is not a customer enquiry then it has been passed to the
relevant department.

SLC's Freedom of Information Office is unable to advise response timescales

for other departments.

show quoted sections

FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Mr Glancey

Thank you for your email dated 1st September 2020.

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

Your request has been allocated reference number 150-20.

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

show quoted sections

References

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

FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Mr Glancey

We refer to your recent email dated 1^st September 2020 requesting the
following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”):

“Please could you provide me with the following, how many employees over
the last 10 years have suffered from acoustic shock, resulting in short or
long term sickness whilst at their place of work, please could you
quantify this into area establishments.”

Response

We have reviewed your request and in consultation with the appropriate
departments within Student Loans Company Limited (“SLC”) we are refusing
your request under section 12(1) of the FOIA.  In order to search for,
retrieve, collate and extract this information would exceed the
appropriate limit set out in the Freedom of Information and Data
Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.  The limit
applying to SLC is £450 or 2.5 days (calculated to be 18 hours of staff
time at £25 per hour).  

By way of explanation, “acoustic shock” is not an absence reason which is
captured on SLC’s systems.  Absences are recorded under a generic reason,
and in order to identify any reference to acoustic shock we would need to
manually check each member of staff’s individual absences for fit notes to
check the detailed reasons.   This relies on the assumption that a doctor
has used the same reason on every fit note and it is possible that a fit
note could detail a symptom of acoustic shock syndrome/disorder, such as
tinnitus, headaches, ear pain, nausea, anxiety, etc which could be a
symptom of a condition unrelated to acoustic shock.

By way of advice and assistance, we have considered what, if any,
information could be provided within the appropriate costs limit.
 However, even reducing the timeframe to one or two years would still
exceed 18 hours of staff time due to the manual review required to even
identify any reference to acoustic shock.  

As an employer of contact centre staff, SLC is cognizant of the existence
of acoustic shock, and provides all contact centre staff with noise
cancelling and acoustic shock prevention compliant headsets.

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
[1]www.gov.uk/slc
Follow us at [2]Twitter/SLCcomms for the latest corporate news and updates

show quoted sections

References

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