Which plan am I on?
| Plan | Usually, if you studied | You repay |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | In England or Wales before 2012, or from Northern Ireland | 9% over £26,900 |
| Plan 2 | In England from 2012 to 2023, or Wales from 2012 | 9% over £29,385 |
| Plan 4 | From Scotland | 9% over £33,795 |
| Plan 5 | In England, starting from August 2023 | 9% over £25,000 |
| Postgraduate loan | A Master’s or Doctoral loan, England or Wales | 6% over £21,000 |
Your plan is shown in your Student Loans Company online account, and often on your payslip. Plan 5 repayments started in April 2026, so 2026/27 is the first year anyone on Plan 5 repays.
How much will I repay?
A postgraduate loan adds 6% of your salary over £21,000 on top of any of these.
| Salary | Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 4 | Plan 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £30,000 | £279 | £55 | £0 | £450 |
| £35,000 | £729 | £505 | £108 | £900 |
| £50,000 | £2,079 | £1,855 | £1,458 | £2,250 |
A year, in 2026/27. Example: on Plan 2 and £35,000, you repay 9% of (£35,000 − £29,385) = £505 a year, or about £42 a month.
With a postgraduate loan as well, you repay both at once. On £35,000 with Plan 2 that’s £505 plus 6% of (£35,000 − £21,000) = £840, so £1,345 a year.
How it’s taken
If you’re employed, your employer takes repayments through your payslip, along with tax. The threshold is split across the year, so each month you repay 9% of what you earn over a twelfth of it.
That means a month with overtime or a bonus can trigger a repayment even if your yearly pay is under the threshold. If your income for the whole tax year ends up under it, you can ask the Student Loans Company for the money back.
If you’re self-employed, you repay through Self Assessment, on your total income over the threshold, at the same time as your tax bill.
Interest and write-off
Interest is added every month. From September 2026 it’s 4.1% on Plans 1, 4 and 5, between 4.1% and 6% on Plan 2 depending on your income, and 6% on postgraduate loans.
If you haven’t cleared the loan by the end of your plan’s term, the rest is written off:
- Plan 1: 25 years after you were first due to repay
- Plan 2, Plan 4 and postgraduate loans: 30 years
- Plan 5: 40 years
The government has said the Plan 2 threshold will stay at £29,385 for three years from April 2027.
Should I pay it off early?
A student loan works more like a tax on your income than a normal debt. What you repay each month depends only on your salary, and many people on Plan 2 will never clear their loan before it’s written off.
- If you won’t clear it anyway, extra payments mostly reduce the amount that would be written off, so they’re usually money you won’t see again.
- If you’ll clear it before the write-off, for example with a high salary or a small balance, paying early saves interest.
The student loan calculator shows whether you’re on track to clear your loan, and how much you’d repay in total.
Does it affect a mortgage?
Lenders count your student loan repayments as a monthly cost, so they can slightly reduce how much you can borrow. The loan itself doesn’t appear on your credit file.
See your own numbers
The salary calculator shows your student loan repayment alongside your tax and National Insurance, for any salary and pay frequency.