E-Privacy


Protecting your privacy

Privacy policy

The Student Loans Company Limited (SLC) will act in accordance with legislation in force with regard to the processing of personal data, and is data controller of the personal data provided by you and is committed to respecting your online privacy. We will apply appropriate protection and management of any personal information you share with us. The level of protection will be based on an assessment of the harm that is likely to be caused by the loss or unauthorised disclosure of the personal information you give us. The information you provide will be processed by SLC in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. This Privacy Policy covers all websites operated by the SLC but does not extend to links to other external websites within this site.

We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of the information you submit to us. All personal information you provide is transferred via a secured connection. This is completed under 128 bit SSL (Secure Socket layer) encryption, which is a leading security standard for the transmission of data within the e-services industry.

We may monitor usage of our website to enable us to update and tailor content to the needs of our users. We may also keep a record of those links which are most regularly used, thus enabling us to provide the most helpful information to our users. As part of the operation of our service, some of our web pages may use cookies (and other tracking technologies). A “cookie” is a small text file downloaded on your computer’s hard drive. A cookie's main objective is to identify users and personalise their visit by customising web pages for them for example by welcoming them by name next time they visit the same site. This enables us to collect information such as the time spent on our website and the pages used. The cookies on this website are only valid whilst you are using our service and expire when you log out and close your browser window.

We do not conduct any long-term tracking of your visits to our site with cookies and you can always delete your cookies when you are deleting your temporary internet files. However, you should note that this will affect all sites that have provided cookies, not just ours. Further information on deleting or controlling cookies is available at www.aboutcookies.org. It should be noted that our website will not work without cookies.

We will process, use and disclose information that we collect from you, or that you provide to us, in the following ways:

  • to help provide services to you.
  • to administer your participation in the Student Loans Scheme.
  • to arrange for the collection of repayments made by you in relation to your Student Loans Account.
  • to ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
  • to provide you with information on services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you.
  • to carry out our obligations and exercise our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
  • to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so.
  • to notify you about changes to our service.
  • to monitor the performance of the website.

SLC will not supply, transmit, or otherwise provide your personal data to any third party, except where required or permitted by law. For further details about the way your information is used, who is responsible for it and the rights you have in connection with it, please refer to the SLC Privacy Notice.

We have a legal obligation in accordance with applicable data protection legislation to ensure that all information held and processed about you is kept accurate and up to date. Should you discover that SLC is holding personal data relating to you which is inaccurate, please notify SLC as soon as possible. SLC will then correct its records, and notify third parties to whom such personal data may have been supplied in accordance with this policy.

This privacy policy is not intended to – nor does it – create any contractual or other legal rights. It is, however, a guide to our online protection standards.

SLC Information charter

Your privacy is important to us. We may need to handle personal information about you so that we can provide services to you. This charter is intended to give you confidence in the security of that information by explaining what we do with it.

If we ask you for personal information, we promise:

  • to tell you why we need it and what we intend to do with it;
  • to process your personal information in accordance with applicable data protection legislation;
  • to only ask for what we need;
  • to look after it and make sure it’s only accessible to those with a genuine need to see it;
  • to let you know where information is shared between organisations to give you better services - and to give you the opportunity to say no to this where we can;
  • to make sure we don’t keep it longer than necessary; and
  • not to make your personal information available for commercial use without your permission.

In return, we ask you to:

  • give us accurate information; and
  • tell us as soon as possible if there are any changes to your personal information, such as a new address.
    This helps us to keep your information reliable and up to date.

You can get more details on:

  • how to find out what information we hold about you and how to ask us to correct any mistakes;
  • agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information;
  • circumstances where we can pass on your personal information without telling you, for example, to prevent and detect crime, or where we are required to do so by a relevant authority;
  • our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete your personal information;
  • how we check the information we hold is accurate and up to date; and
  • how to make a complaint about how we hold or use your information.

For further details about the way your information is used, who is responsible for it and the rights you have in connection with it, please refer to the SLC Privacy Notice.

The Student Loans Company, together with the Department for Education, and partner organisations, has signed up to these shared principles for handling your information.

For more information, contact:

Data Protection Officer
Student Loans Company Ltd
10 Clyde Place
Glasgow
G5 8DF

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner at:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Phone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745

Fax: 0162 552 4510

Website: ico.org.uk