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£11,000 penalty of a student loan slip-up
By Geoff Fox TEACHER Emma Seymour took centre stage in Westminster as her local MP won a crucial victory for newly-qualified teachers stung by a student loans firm.
Morley's Labour MP Colin Challen was furious after hearing that Rothwell, Leeds, teacher Emma Seymour was effectively being struck off the Repayment of Teachers' Loan Scheme.
The government scheme was set up to encourage graduates to teach subjects with staff shortages by paying off their student loans over 10 years.
Under the scheme, run by the Student Loan Company Ltd (SLC), teachers undergo an annual review. In return, the government pays off 10 per cent of the claimant's student loan off each year over a decade, as long as they stay within the teaching profession.
But, as Miss Seymour found out to her cost, failing to meet the stringent requirements of the review in any one year leaves teachers permanently excluded from the scheme and left to pay off their loan in full.
"I was never going to go into teaching," said Miss Seymour, 24, who studied for a degree in human genetics at Leeds University. "But the incentives turned my head and it now turns out I love the job. So for them to rip it all out from under me is really bad."
Miss Seymour, who teaches science at a primary school in Brighouse, realised monthly loan repayments were being taken from her salary three years into the scheme. The annual review forms had been sent to her old address even though she had telephoned the SLC to inform them of her change of address 18 months ago. She was told because she failed to return the forms she was disqualified from the remaining seven years of the scheme, leaving her with 11,000 to repay.
Prove
Her appeal was thrown out by the SLC because she couldn't prove she had told them of her change of address.
Mr Challen took up the matter in the House of Commons and has now secured an agreement from Education Minister Dr Kim Howells for a review of the entire scheme.
"It is a very tough penalty for such a simple error," said Mr Challen. "There could be any number of reasonable and honest explanations which meant she should not have been penalised in this way."
Dr Howells told the House of Commons: "The SLC has undertaken to review the appeals procedure in such cases, including Miss Seymour's. It has said that any changes that are to the advantage of the cases under review will be implemented without delay."
A spokesman for the SLC said: "We cannot discuss a customer's case unless we have express written permission from the customer. The Student Loans Company is reviewing the appeals procedure for the Repayment of Teachers' Loans scheme. This review is under way and it is anticipated that it will be completed by the end of April."
geoff.fox@ypn.co.uk
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