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On 3 July 2006 the Minister of State for Higher Education delivered a written ministerial statement that the Student Finance Delivery System in England would be transformed so that by September 2008 a new, fully integrated, Student Finance Service would be ready for new students applying for entry to higher education in the 2009/10 academic year.
The full transformation programme will take six years, with all outcomes, benefits and requirement delivered in time for the 2011/12 academic year application processing cycle when all students will be assessed by a central unit.
To deliver this change requires:
- Design, development and implementation of the new service
- Transformation of the Student Loans Company (SLC), which will become the national delivery provider for payment of loans and grants and owner of end-to end customer contact and strengthening the existing partnership with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for collection of loans
- The collection service will continue to be provided for all administrations in the UK jointly who will all benefit from any improvements to customer service and processes
- Carefully managed transition from the current locally distributed assessment service, which involves English local authorities, so that by academic year 2011/12 all cases are handled by the new service
- DIUS repositioning itself as strategic leaders of the system, remaining owners of the SFS and being ultimately accountable for its performance but gradually increasing the operational autonomy and accountability of delivery partners
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