Hi there, I popped into the Payroll department at my NHS employer today to ask what was going on and where the authority to make these frictions has come from. They were pretty helpful and showed me the "Notice to employer to start Student Loan deductions" letter which they had received from HM Revenue and Customs. They even gave me a photocopy of the letter. It instructs them to start making deductions once my pay exceeds the Student Loan repayment threshold (to date I have earned £8223.48 - which seems like a pretty low threshold to me but anyway. So I can only assume that the SLC is linked to the Tax Office and they have given the word for them to send this notice to my employer. I'm going to speak to the Tax Office if I can, to tell them that they are enforcing a claim for a Statute Barred debt from almost 20 years ago.

I just did the trust online search where you pay £4 to see court judgement s against me and it came back 'nothing registered'. Oh and I've never given anyone an 'attachment of earnings' form, or been asked to fill one out either.

Thanks guys, I'm not aware of any CCJ's against me. The wage slip literally has the column for payments (so salary/hours, overtime etc) and then the next column has deductions which are tax, national insurance and "Student Loan" and the sum of £60 (my salary is £21692). I was wondering myself if maybe someone at the office has just hit a button to make a SLC/Student Finance England payment as it's the first time this has happened in 4 months, but I presumed there would need to be more of a formal agreement in place to do so rather than them being able to just randomly send money to the SLC. I'm going to email payroll tomorrow and see if they can explain it. Will let you know what they say! As ever your help is much appreciated, Cheers

Thank you! Yeah it's the old-style loan. They didn't write to me about it for a number of years and I had no contact with them since I sent them the standard 'Statute Barred' letter stating that they weren't allowed to pursue me for it, and they stopped writing and sending me statements etc. Then today there's been deduction. I'm confused and concerned!

Hi there, I have an old student loan from 1996-1999. I informed the SLC/Student Finance that the debt was statues barred three years ago and they left me alone. I started working for the NHS four months ago and today's payslip has a deduction for Student Loan repayment on it. I have never given permission for anyone to do this as I do not acknowledge the debt. Where do I stand? Many thanks, M

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help with this. My wife recently applied for a placement at a school as part of her Teaching Assistant NVQ. This is an essential component of her course. She has a criminal record from 14 years ago (fraud and theft) and obviously this showed up on the enhanced CRB check. At the first stage of her interview process, she discussed the past criminal record with the school's headteacher. I should add that for the past 10 years, following graduation, she has worked as a community artist involved with many charitable projects and government-sponsored initiatives working with children, teenagers and the elderly as well as mental health groups. At a second interview, she was questioned by 2 further members of staff - the schools 'family counsellor' and the 'safeguarding officer', who had been informed of her CRB status and who questioned her suitability to the placement on the strength of her criminal record - although they claimed not to know what was on the CRB check. They used language indicating that they had concerns about her being left alone with the children and the possibility of her leading them astray (it's an inner-city high school with some gang-related problems). Anyway, today she was informed by the school that they would not be offering her the placement because, and I quote, "your past experiences make you unsuitable to be made responsible to look after children". I really don't think this is right or fair. Firstly, they seem to have made a judgement based on a criminal record relating in no way to children, which is from 15 years ago, and ignored all the good work which she has done since then (in fact, when my wife first sent her CV to the school, the headteacher seemed thrilled and excited at the prospect of someone of my wife's experience and caliber coming onboard). But secondly and more worryingly, it would appear that the headteacher has shared CRB information, at the very least the existence of a criminal record, with other members of staff before the selection process. Obviously this is just a voluntary placement and not a paid job which has been lost out on, but it is just as important as part of her course and I want to take some action. I don't think they should be allowed to treat people like this. There could now be a staffroom full of teachers, their families, friends etc who are going round with knowledge of my wife's criminal record. What can we do about this? Many thanks.