We are making you aware of HMRC’s communication to software developers on 29 January 2026. This concerns the following tax code and Student / Postgraduate Loan notifications you may receive, generated by their Data Provisioning Service (DPS):
- P6 (in-year tax code change);
- SL1 (Student Loan start / change notification);
- SL2 (Student Loan stop notice);
- PGL1 (Postgraduate Loan start / change notification);
- PGL2 (Postgraduate Loan stop notice)
The DPS is, very simply, a system used by HMRC to gather tax and Student Loan data from other areas of their systems and converting that into electronic notifications to employers.
HMRC’s message to software developers says that on 15 January 2026, a ‘technical refresh’ affected some of the above notifications and was corrected on that day. The refresh was ‘regressed’ (i.e. put back to its former position) and HMRC are re-issuing the above notifications. It reads:
‘Re-issued notifications will each have a new, higher index number (sequence number) and a new issue date. This will enable employers to action any missing notifications, as the re-issued one should be picked up at the next retrieval. This email is to make developers aware, in case you receive any queries to your helpdesks’.
For Bookkeepers
This is a technical note to developers about an HMRC systems issue but it may have impacted one or more of the above notifications for employees.
The next time you download such notifications, it may be that it contains an out-of-sequence (higher) index number. Software developers have been notified if this is queried by employers / bookkeepers. ICB is passing on this information to members who will be the ones who may notice this.
