COMPLAINTS made by students and graduates about the handling of their loans have doubled during the past year and have quadrupled over five years, figures have revealed.

The number of grievances lodged against the Student Loans Company (SLC), which employs 600 staff at its Darlington offices, rose from 1,411 in 2005-06 to 5,648 in 2010-11.

This year’s total was more than double the 2,566 complaints made in the previous financial years, according to statistics obtained after a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

An itemised account of grievances against the SLC shows that more than a third were collections disputes in 2005-06.

Arrears and agency issues were among the highest categories of complaint in subsequent years, with other grievances including lengthy delays in the payment of loans.

The SLC said the most recent increase in complaints came after it took over processing applications previously handled by local councils.

Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, told The Independent on Sunday, which made the FOI request: “The complaints demonstrate students growing dissatisfaction with all parts of the higher education funding system.”

The SLC was criticised in 2009 after it failed to process about 200,000 student loans and grants by the beginning of term.

A SLC spokeswoman said: “The Student Loans Company processed 976,000 applications last year, and the increase in complaints highlighted for 2010-11 represents an increase in customers who were previously assessed by local authorities.”

The future of the Student Loans Company, which has offices in Lingfield Point, Darlington, is under review as part of the higher education shake-up that will increase tuition fees.

It also received criticism from a commons committee after the Commons’ Public Accounts Committee said that about one in four students received their loans late at the start of the autumn term.

However, staff received a bonus in their December salary after the firm said they had worked “very hard to improve the service”.

Less than half of students the previous year had their applications processed in time.