Student Loans boss to stand down

by Morgana Edwards

Ed Lester, the Chief executive of the Student Loans Company, has announced that he will stand down, following revelations about his tax arrangements.

Mr Lester had been receiving his pay through a company, which meant he paid less tax than as an individual from when his job started permanently in January 2011 until February 2012.

Lester will leave his £182,000 a year role when his contract ends early next year.

He was appointed after a series of mistakes in 2009 left students without their grants or loans.

Departure planned

The Student Loans Company said Lester would be leaving because he had come to the end of his contract: “Ed's planned departure from Student Loans Company has always been a matter of public record.

“It is in no way linked to the tax arrangements in his contract agreed by BIS, HM Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs and the Head of the Civil Service."

The government and relevant tax authorities had agreed Lester’s salary.

Despite the Student Loans Company being a publicly funded body, he received his pay through a private service company, registered to his home address.

The discovery of Lester’s tax arrangements led to a review of public sector pay.

The review revealed that over 2,400 public sector workers were being paid indirectly, rather than their money being appropriately processed and tax being deducted through the pay as you earn scheme.