It has been revealed that a month after starting university, nearly 150,000 students are still waiting for grant and loan payments.

The Student Loans Company approved 844,000 applications but only 698,000 people have received their first payments.

A further 141,000 are still waiting to have their applications processed. There were 985,000 university applications this year, up from 903,000 last year. As a result, there have been calls for the chief executive, Ralph Seymour Jackson, to quit.

Wes Streeting, of the National Union of Students commented: “Hundreds of thousands of students have been affected and have endured a miserable start to the term.

“SLC bosses have sought to apportion blame anywhere other than their own doorstep. It is time for Ralph Seymour-Jackson to take full responsibility for this shambles and resign immediately,” he said.

Shadow universities and skills secretary David Willetts said: “Even though we are well on the way into the academic year, more than one in 10 students is still waiting for a proper assessment.

“The crisis is having a particularly severe impact on new students and students from poorer households, and many disabled students are suffering particularly hard as their applications seem to have been placed near the bottom of the pile.”