Image caption The review will look at how late and complex funding applications are dealt with

The organisation which provides funding for Scottish students does not have enough resources to do the job properly, a review has found.

A probe into the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (Saas) was ordered after thousands of students were left without living funds for part of last year.

As the findings were published, the government announced an extra £2m to improve the service.

A total of 50 new staff members will be taken on to help students.

Last October, it emerged several thousand students had yet to get funding through bursaries and loans, despite being almost half-way through term.

Some at the time reported having to take out overdrafts and borrow from friends and relatives to pay for food and rent.

Many applicants had missed the 30 June "guarantee date" deadline set by Saas, or were told to provide further evidence in support of their claims.

The agency processes about 160,000 funding applications every year, but in 2012 had to deal with about one million calls.

The review into the problems, led by David Wallace, deputy chief executive of the Student Loans Company, said:

Saas has "insufficient resource in core functions", including processing applications and IT, to match the demands of the service

Saas does not have the necessary information and tools to forecast and manage demand, measure workload or plan resources adequately

The online application system for students is "not designed sufficiently around the customer"

The back office system is "not designed to support case ownership and management of applications is fragmented".

Ministers said other improvements to the service included keeping the Saas helpline open for longer during peak times, simplifying the application process and arrangements to deal with priority cases.

Education Secretary Mike Russell said: "Last year we put £580m into students' pockets.

"Where students applied by the deadline, there were very few problems, however, it was clear we took too long processing late and complex applications."

Mr Wallace welcomed the extra funding, adding: "I believe that the report and its recommendations speak clearly for themselves."

NUS Scotland president Robin Parker said: "We welcome these changes, but will be watching very closely over the coming months and years to ensure we see big improvements on that what has happened over the last few years."