Transparency data

SLC Board meeting minutes February 2025

Published 31 October 2025

1. Attendees

1.1 Present

• Peter Lauener (PL) - Chair

• Chris Larmer (CL) - Chief Executive Officer

• Natasha Toothill (NT) - Non-Executive Director

• Gary Page (GP) - Non-Executive Director

• Charlotte Moar (CM)- Non-Executive Director

• Stephen Tetlow (ST) - Non-Executive Director

• Margaret Ollerenshaw (MO) - Non-Executive Director

• Stephen Marston (SM) - Non-Executive Director

• Janette Campbell (JCA) - Non-Executive Director

• Mandy Beech (MB) - Non-Executive Director

• David Wallace (DW) - Deputy Chief Executive Officer

• Audrey McColl (AMC) - CFO

• Gary Womersley (GW) - Company Secretary

1.2 Also in attendance

• Patrick Curry (PC) – DfE (by videoconference)

• Courtney Brightwell (CB) – DfE (by videoconference)

• Lorna Caldwell (LC) – Scottish Government (by videoconference)

• Chris Williams (CW) - Welsh Government (by videoconference)

• Alan Scott (AS) – Department for the Economy NI (by videoconference)

• Jonathan O’Callaghan (JO) – Department for the Economy NI (by videoconference)

• Jason Dunham (JD) – CIO

• Jackie Currie (JC) – Executive Director, Business Operations

• Nauman Dar (ND) – Executive Director, Change, Data and Repayments

• Derek Ross (DR) - Executive Director, HE and FE Reform

• Gillian Brydie (GB) - Executive Director, People

• Helen Bogan (HB) – Head of Governance and Planning

• Stuart Brydson (SB) - Board Secretary (Secretariat)

• Nicholas McDermott (NMC) – Chief of Staff (for item 6.1 only)

• Margaret McMullen (MMC) – Director of Finance (for item 6.2 only) (by videoconference)

• Scott McEwan (SMC) - Financial Performance and Analysis Manager (by videoconference for Item 6.2 only)

• Madeleine Firth (MF) – Head of Strategy Development, Policy and Stakeholder Engagement (for item 6.3 only)

2. Apologies

• Anne Rimmer DfE

• Jonny O’Callaghan NI

• Victoria Bowman SAAS

3. FOI Notice

Where asterisks (*) appear, these sections have been excluded from the minutes before placing on the website as the subject under discussion falls within one or more of the exemptions contained in Part II of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and can be reasonably withheld.        

4. Chairman’s Opening Remarks / Directors’ Matters / Declarations of Interest

PL welcomed everyone to the meeting and especially AS who was attending today for the first time.  Apologies from AR, JOC, and VB were noted.

Declarations of interest

No new Declarations of interest were noted.

5. Chair Update

5.1 Update from the Chair on relevant matters

PL noted that although the Board had not met since 28 November, reports from the CEO and CFO had been shared to ensure the Board remained aware of key developments.

PL highlighted that all NEDs had been invited to attend the TOC meeting on 6 February which had focussed on the Enable Strategic Outline Business Case.

6. Strategic items

6.1 CEO Report

NMC joined the meeting.

CL introduced the CEO Report, highlighting the key areas of risk opinion, customer, shareholder, colleague, and performance. 

Risk Opinion

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Tallyman

CL noted that PAYE managed the vast majority of collections activity and was keen to see whether it could support repayment recoveries currently managed by the Tallyman system. 

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Customer 

DSA

CL highlighted the successes in implementing DSA Reforms.

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In response to comments from the Board, CL highlighted that there were KPIs in place with the DSA suppliers. 

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Shareholder

Shareholder Engagement

PL, CL and DR had updated Baroness Smith, Minister of State for Skills, earlier in the week on LLE delivery progress and the potential to address SLC’s technology challenges.   DR would provide an LLE progress report at the March Board meeting. 

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CL noted that he and PL were due to meet the Welsh Minister, Vicki Howells, in March, to update her on SLC’s work on Welsh priorities.  Similarly, CL was looking forward to continued engagement with VB, and with Mark Lee, Director of Higher Education in Northern Ireland. 

LLE

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In terms of sector readiness, CL explained this was for DfE to consider and SLC’s role and focus was to develop the LLE system in readiness for launch.   SM noted that it would be important for customers to understand the offering. 

Alternative Student Finance (ASF)

CL acknowledged that ASF was important to shareholders.  He was comfortable with what had been commissioned, and it was not envisaged that it would cause challenges to other change priorities. 

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Performance

CL noted that 10 of the 11 APRA measures were currently green and he thanked the ELT and SMT teams for their dual leadership focus.  CL explained that accelerating digital containment and channel shift were key, and was delighted that the multi-disciplinary team pilot had now commenced.  He looked forward to seeing the outcomes and hearing directly from colleagues on their experience and learnings.  

Colleague

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In summary PL noted that the Board took assurance that the key issues, although challenging, were being well managed.  The achievements in DSA improvement, including the exemplary work on stakeholder engagement, was noted and the Board joined the ELT in looking forward to ‘a year of better’ for DSA.

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NMC left the meeting.

6.2 CFO Report

MMC joined the meeting.

2024-25

AMC introduced the CFO Report.

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2025-26

AMC explained that SLC had received a Letter of Comfort from DfE for Q1 FY2025-26.

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AMC noted that the FY2025-26 planning process was underway with the aim to have at least initial BAU budgets in place across SLC for the start of the financial year.  The initial change scenario was set out in the paper, highlighting the areas which were currently prioritised, but which may change as the budget was finalised. 

In response to a question from MO, AMC explained that although uncertainty with the budget allocation was standard, SLC had robust processes in place, and that SLC was progressing its own planning.  Budget envelopes had been reviewed by CL and would go out to directorates shortly, with an assumption of flat cash. 

In response to a question from the Board in relation to Catalyst, AMC explained.  There were five workstreams covering different areas and despite the stretch on resource, savings had been realised, and this was a significant achievement. 

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MO asked about staff awareness of pay uplifts.  GB explained that SLC worked to a regular schedule of pay uplifts, one for the general population and the other for senior civil service.  Annual uplifts were normally in October and colleagues were notified beforehand about how much they would be getting.

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In summary PL noted that the Board took assurance that SLC finances were understood and well managed.  The budget planning process had substantially improved under the leadership of AMC and PL highlighted the complex nature of the work carried out by the team.

MMC left the meeting.

6.3 Programme Enable: Strategic Outline business Case (SOBC)

ND introduced the Programme Enable Strategic Outline Business Case noting that DfE had deferred review of the Business Case from the 19 February InvestCo to 11 March to give DfE keyholders more time to consider the case.  After the SOBC the focus would shift to the Outline Business Case (OBC) and then the Final Business Case (FBC).  The Comprehensive Spending Review submission timeline was still uncertain but expected to be by the end of April. 

ND reminded the Board that Enable’s aim was make SLC a simpler, more modern, digital organisation. 

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In his capacity as Chair of TOC, ST noted that the governance of Enable was effective and transparent.  It would be important to ensure that SLC was promoting Enable by using public sector reform language. 

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MF clarified the difference between the three options, noting that the preferred option was best in terms of cost benefits.

PL noted that the SOBC gave a sense of excitement about the future and commended ND and the team on the excellent work and progress to date.  

6.4 Outline Annual Business Plan

The Board agreed to defer discussion on this item to the March meeting.

7. Reports from Committees

7.1 ARC Chair Report

CM introduced the ARC Chair Report noting JCA and SM had been welcomed as new members, and that JCA would be the new Chair of ARC effective from the May meeting.

CM highlighted that although the NAO team had successfully finalised the Annual Report and Accounts by Christmas, the extra work had been a drain on both NAO and SLC colleagues.  A lessons learned paper was due to be presented at the March meeting. 

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PL noted the benefit of JCA having a comprehensive handover with CM, and also that she would be an independent member of DfE ARC.

The Board took assurance from the ARC Chair Report.

ND left the meeting.

8. Directors’ Reports

8.1 Application Cycle – review and forward look

CL Introduced this annual update which both looked back to AY24/25 and forward to AY25/26.  It was not a Customer Operations Performance Review but an Academic Cycle Review, presented by JC but outlining a Team SLC Plan which the full ELT would execute. 

JC introduced the paper in two parts, starting with the AY24/25 review.  SLC had delivered a safe cycle with key ready-to-pay, quality and error rate metrics tracking in line with the previous cycle.  JC noted the near final volumes paid out by SLC during the cycle.

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For AY25/26, JC noted the key assumptions were for flat cash and flat application volumes.  The overall approach to the cycle was based on three key themes: deliver a safe cycle, maintaining the core ready-to-pay, quality and error rate metrics at current levels; prioritise DSA to reduce the end to end journey times and increase customer satisfaction.  Frontline colleagues would continue to be multi-skilled to move to support high demands areas, such as DSA, and the new Multi-Disciplinary Team that was being piloted was anticipated to support a step change in digitalisation.

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JC also outlined the key risks and mitigants.

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The Board discussed and asked questions on: leading themes of complaints; financial inclusion and accessibility; student finance policy – which PL noted was on the Board work plan for FY25-26; cost per transaction; and Live Chat ambitions.

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JC reiterated her confidence that the key themes of the AY25/26 cycle that she has set out were the right approach.  Surge capacity had also been created via multi-skilling colleagues so resource could shift between core and DSA as demand required.  JC was also confident that SLC would achieve the target levels of Live Chat.  Finally, JC noted that the leading complaints theme was the time customers had to wait, so the actions outlined in relation to focussing on processing, reducing the end to end DSA journey and the shift to Live Chat were the key mitigants.

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PL summarised the discussion noting that the Board took assurance that the upcoming cycle had been carefully researched and considered and would look forward to understanding the final view when the budget had been determined. 

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9. Governance

9.1 Minutes of meeting held on 28 November 2024

The minutes of the SLC Board meeting held on 28 November 2024 were approved as a true and accurate record.

9.2 Matters arising from previous meetings

The matters arising document was approved as accurate.  PL noted that MB 411 would be covered in the LLE Report due to come to the March meeting.

In relation to MB 420, PL noted that he was due to meet with Professor Anne-Marie Kilday, the new Chair of the Stakeholder Forum

10. Any other business

DW thanked MB for meeting with Stephen Baker, along with one of her team, to share knowledge on using AI in complaints and appeals handling.

10.1 Date of Next Meeting

The next formal meeting was confirmed as being at 10:00 on Thursday 27 March by Teams with Executive hosting from the Glasgow Boardroom.

There being no other business the meeting ended at 13:00