Student Loan Repayments and Tax

Student Loans Company Limited did not have the information requested.

Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

Please can you confirm if the PAYE student loan repayments in the UK are taken before or after tax.

Yours faithfully,

Richard Evans

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
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If your email is in relation to a student finance application or account
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If your email is not a customer enquiry then it has been passed to the
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for other departments.

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FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Mr Evans

Thank you for your email dated 29th January 2021.

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

Your request has been allocated reference number 17-21.

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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FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Mr Evans

We refer to your recent email dated 29^th January 2021 requesting the
following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”):

“Please can you confirm if the PAYE student loan repayments in the UK are
taken before or after tax.”

Response

The information that you have requested is held by Student Loans Company
Limited (“SLC”), however technically exempt from disclosure within this
response under section 21(1) of the FOIA as the information is considered
reasonably accessible to you by other means.  We would refer you to the
information on student loan repayments which is available on gov.uk at
[1]https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student...
and [2]https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student... which
answers your question.

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

[3]www.gov.uk/slc
Follow us at [4]Twitter/SLCcomms for the latest corporate news and updates

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student...
2. https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student...
3. http://www.gov.uk/slc
4. http://www.twitter.com/SLCcomms

Dear Student Loans Company Limited,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Student Loans Company Limited's handling of my FOI request 'Student Loan Repayments and Tax'.

The response provided states that the information is publicly available and provides 2 links to where the information is available, but neither link has any information that actually answers the question. The links provided detail that the threshold is calculated before tax, but do not detail if payments are taken before PAYE tax is calculated or not.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...

Yours faithfully,

Richard Evans

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 Evans

Thank you for your email.  Please accept our apologies for misinterpreting
your request.  SLC does not make the deductions so is not involved in that
part of the student loan repayment process, so the interpretation from our
perspective had been whether student loan repayments were based on before
or after tax earnings.  We are currently verifying whether we are in a
position to answer your question as SLC does not calculate the deductions
as this is done by employers or whether it may be more appropriate for HM
Revenue & Customs to answer.  We propose to issue you a revised response
as soon as possible, still in keeping with statutory timescales based on
the date of your original request.  

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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FOI Requests, Student Loans Company Limited

Dear Mr Evans

We are emailing further to our initial response dated 2^nd February 2020
in response to your request dated 29^th January 2021 in which you asked:

“Please can you confirm if the PAYE student loan repayments in the UK are
taken before or after tax.”

We had initially responded to with a technical rejection under section
21(1) of the FOIA, and directed you to a number of online sources which
confirmed student loan repayment thresholds were based on gross (so before
tax) earnings.  You advised in your email dated 2^nd April 2021 that our
response of the same date did not answer your question as it did not
detail if payments were taken before PAYE tax is calculated or not.

We apologised that our interpretation of your request had been incorrect,
and explained that:

"SLC does not make the deductions so is not involved in that part of the
student loan repayment process, so the interpretation from our perspective
had been whether student loan repayments were based on before or after tax
earnings.  We are currently verifying whether we are in a position to
answer your question as SLC does not calculate the deductions as this is
done by employers or whether it may be more appropriate for HM Revenue &
Customs to answer."  

Response

Having reviewed your request further based on, and in light of, the
correct interpretation of your request provided in your email of 2^nd
February 2021, we can confirm that Student Loans Company Limited (“SLC”)
does not hold the information that you have requested.  As advised
previously, SLC does not take the deductions and is not involved in that
particular part of the student loan repayment process.  

We can confirm that student loan deductions calculated under Part 4 of the
Education (Student Loans) Repayment Regulations 2009, as amended (original
regulations available online at
[1]https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009..., which
amendments available at
[2]https://www.legislation.gov.uk/changes/a...), should
be calculated by employers using the same income used to calculate
Secondary Class 1 National Insurance Contributions, i.e. NICable income
(Regulation 45(1)).  This, however, does not answer your specific question
about whether payment of student loan repayments were taken before or
after PAYE tax was calculated.

With a view to providing advice and assistance, we have also reviewed
online information published by HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) to establish
if an answer to your question could be provided through other gov.uk
content, including “Student Loan and Postgraduate Loan repayments:
guidance for employers”  which is published by HMRC at
 [3]https://www.gov.uk/guidance/special-rule... and the
employer’s deduction tables published by HMRC for the different plan types
which can be found at
[4]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio....
 Unfortunately we have been unable to identify a definitive answer to your
specific question and would advise that HMRC may be better placed to
answer your question.  HMRC can be contacted by email to
[5][email address].  

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

[6]www.gov.uk/slc
Follow us at [7]Twitter/SLCcomms for the latest corporate news and updates

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References

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1. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009...
2. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/changes/a...
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/special-rule...
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. http://www.gov.uk/slc
7. http://www.twitter.com/SLCcomms