Mark Berry was appalled by his dealings with the Student Loans Company when his daughter, Ellen, 18, applied for a loan.

She has a place to read history at the University of Sussex. Mr Berry, of Waterlooville, Hampshire, is now concerned that his daughter will be without her loan when she starts.

Mr Berry said he was not told of a deadline for the application and the repeated failure of the company’s online log-in prevented him providing details. Mr Berry said: “We only found out after the event that there was any deadline, even though the loans company had a perfect opportunity to let us know when they sent out an e-mail asking for the information in the first place.”

It took more than a month from posting their application to be told they had not sent the right information.

The family did not receive an e-mail advising them that they had not sent in the required information until early August - a month after they submitted their postal application.

Mr Berry also said the loans company did not return the important documents that had been enclosed with the forms.

Ellen was told this week that her final award excluded any grant. Mr Berry has since discovered, via internet forums, that the company sent this letter to all applicants, on account of a huge backlog, but intends to update the awards.

He said: “It is now impossible to speak to their helpline. On calling, which I’ve been trying to do for days, a message says that all operators are busy, suggests you may prefer to go online or call later, and then appears to put you on hold.

“In fact it turns out (again from the experience of others) that you are not on hold at all, but are simply connected to the answer phone. I did write to the loans company on July 10, but have received no reply.”

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