Some 41,000 people have been overcharged interest on their student loans due to an error by HMRC.

A further 30,000 people were undercharged due to the technical issue, the tax office said.

It explained that two tech problems meant the interest owed on loans had been worked out incorrectly for the affected Plan 2 customers.

One error was due to the wrong income information being used when the interest was calculated. 

The other was the result of an HMRC income reporting error, which affected people who earned money through both PAYE and self-assessment.

Both errors have now been fixed, and interest will be applied correctly going forward. 

What does this mean for affected graduates?

Customers impacted by the error will see changes to their remaining balance made in their next annual statement, which will be available before the end of September. 

For those who have been overcharged, this could mean their balance is lower than expected. 

But for those who were undercharged, it could mean their balance goes up. 

For people who have already paid off their loan in full, they will not have to start repaying again, and if they have paid off more than they should have, they will receive a refund.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) and HMRC have said they are “very sorry that this happened”.  

“Affected customers won’t need to take any action and regular repayment amounts will not change as a result of these issues. SLC will contact customers whose balance has increased due to these issues,” they added in a joint statement. 

“SLC and HMRC take their responsibilities to customers seriously and remain committed to putting things right when issues occur.”