EDUCATION Secretary Damian Hinds must “urgently intervene” after student nurses at 20 universities had their loans and grants cut off or reduced due to administrative errors, unions have demanded.

More than 800 people have been told upcoming payments will be reduced or stopped to recover the money after they were paid too much by the Student Loans Company (SLC), the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) warned.

The RCN and trade unions including Unison and the National Union of Students (NUS) called on Mr Hinds to ensure those affected receive the financial support they had budgeted for next term.

Their letter asks Mr Hinds to take “urgent action to ensure healthcare students in England and Wales affected by errors made by the SLC will receive their anticipated payment,” as well as writing off the overpayments for these students.

It adds that for some students the risk of receiving a reduced payment, or no payment at all, “will compromise their ability to continue studying,” with some students “considering discontinuing due to these financial pressures.”

The RCN said overpayments of between £600 and £6,000 were made in error, with many students who queried the sums wrongly told the payments were correct.

A “huge volume of calls” were continuing to be received from “worried and distressed students,” the letter states, adding that “many have families and children they will be unable to support if they do not receive additional income in the spring term.”

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We have been working with the [SLC] to ensure students have the support they need and will shortly provide details on specific initiatives to help them.”