Chair of Student Loans Company Board

The SLC Chair will be able to work remotely, attending a minimum of eight SLC Board meetings per year. Meetings are generally held in Glasgow and on occasion in London, Llandudno Junction, and Darlington. The Chair will be expected to travel to these locations as necessary.

Interviews will be held on 3rd and 4th December in London.

The current SLC Chair will be hosting webinars to share his experiences in the role and provide an opportunity for questions. There are two webinar dates available – please note that the content will be the same in both sessions, so you should only sign up for one.

Please complete the form corresponding to the date you would like to attend:

The Sponsor Department (DfE), acting on behalf of the government shareholders, has the responsibility for the selection process to identify appointable candidates for the appointment of the non-executive Chair of the SLC. Appointment decisions are made by Ministers.

The Responsible Minister in DfE (currently the Minister for Skills) writes to the SLC’s Chair annually on behalf of all four Shareholders setting out their strategic priorities for the year. This document will form the basis for the Chair’s own objectives.

The Chair leads the Board in the delivery of its responsibilities to ensure a stable annual cycle of loans, grants and tuition fees, and to deliver the effective implementation of the SLC’s portfolio of change work, including changes to the student finance system agreed with Shareholders. This includes servicing the rapidly growing loan book, informing students and sponsors about student finance, facilitating student finance applications, assessing applications, and paying grants and loans, with a focus on delivering these functions as efficiently as possible. Further digital transformation is essential to deliver these efficiencies and will be integral to the digital platform to deliver the Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE) which will transform the post-18 student finance sytem in England. Together, these will support Government aims to improve access to education and respond to sector needs.

The Chair ensures that the Board receives and evaluates regular and timely information on the SLC’s performance against its aims, objectives, performance targets and plans, ensuring appropriate action is in hand to address any areas of underperformance and manage risks appropriately.

Leadership of the SLC Board also includes: leading the SLC and Board strategy; ensuring the balance of skills of the Board members is appropriate; ensuring high standards of corporate governance at all times; performance management of individual SLC Non-Executive Directors; supporting the Chief Executive to cascade Shareholder priorities through the SLC; objective setting and performance management for the CEO; and regular meetings with the Responsible Minister to review SLC performance.

The Chair of the SLC Board has the usual fiduciary duties associated with a director of a UK Company and is also answerable to Ministers. This relationship is one of the primary formal communication channels between SLC and its sponsor department. Further information on the Chair’s responsibilities can be found in the SLC Framework Document

The Student Loans Company (SLC) is a non-profit making government-owned organisation which was incorporated as a private limited company in 1989, and began operating in 1990. It administers loans and grants to students in colleges and universities in the UK and is entirely government-funded, which means that it also operates within the public sector arrangements for Arm’s Length Bodies.

Playing a central role in supporting the higher education (HE) and further education (FE) sectors, the SLC makes timely and accurate payments of maintenance loans to learners and tuition fee loans to HE and FE providers across the UK. The SLC works together with the Department for Education (DfE, England) and the Devolved Governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (the Shareholders). In addition to being subject to the provisions of the Companies Acts, the SLC is required to operate within the limits of a Framework Document between the company and the government.

The SLC has in the region of 10 million customers, and manages a loan book worth over £260bn. In the 2023/24 academic cycle there were 1.45 million fulltime undergraduate applications received and processed; c.£25 billion paid in total to students. The SLC employs over 3,300 staff across four sites – Glasgow (Clyde Place and Hillington), Darlington, and Lllandudno Junction.

Over recent years, the SLC has developed a successful track record of delivery for customers and government shareholders – meeting the majority of the formal targets set by Government, developing systems to implement new policy, and implementing a significant transformation programme called ‘Evolve’ which introduced industry standard customer management systems and the first step of developing a ‘digital by default’ service. But there is still much to do to lead the technological transformation of the SLC, including replacing old technology, making the best use of customer data, and taking the SLC to the next stage of ‘digital by default’ services. This further transformation programme is designed also to deliver more agile platforms for policy development for Government and reduce the cost to serve customers, thereby delivering value to shareholders and the taxpayer.

Further information about SLC can be found:

• SLC website: Student Loans Company
• SLC Framework Document
• Annual Report and Accounts 2023-4
• SLC Corporate Plan 2022-3 – 2024-5

The SLC consists of the following Board members:

• a non-executive Chair;
• the Chief Executive (who may not also hold the position of Chair);
• the Deputy Chief Executive;
• the Chief Finance Officer;
• up to eight Non-Executive Directors (NEDs); and
• the Company Secretary

The current group of six NEDs bring together a diverse range of experience including private sector financial services, technology applications, customer services, finance, and organisational development.

This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the Commissioner’s website 

• Leadership: Demonstrable strategic leadership experience at board level in a complex, evolving, and high-impact environment, including the ability to shape and communicate a compelling strategic vision and advance organisational priorities, with awareness of the broader social, economic and policy context.

• Judgement: Evidenced ability to guide effective decision-making at a senior level, particularly in relation to the management of finance and risk. Ability to manage complexity to provide constructive scrutiny and make informed strategic, financial, and business decisions.

• Communication: Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills to build inclusive, respectful, and proactive relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders with diverse interests, and offer support, constructive challenge, and assurance.

• Knowledge and Experience: A background in the private, public, or voluntary sectors with a track record of delivery on digital transformation, performance, and financial management. An understanding of the government environment and the role of the devolved governments is required, alongside an understanding of the UK financial services context.

• Understanding of effective governance in a regulated public sector environment, ideally through experience with HM Government or the wider public sector.

• An awareness of the challenges and opportunities facing the higher education sector including funding and financial sustainability.

• Public sector board level experience (e.g. on the board of a Government Department or Arm’s Length Body, or equivalent).