Your plan depends on where you studied and when you started. Two people with identical salaries and identical debts can repay very different amounts because they started university a year apart.
Find your plan
| You studied in | You started | Your plan |
|---|---|---|
| England or Wales | Before 1 September 2012 | Plan 1 |
| England or Wales | 1 September 2012 to 31 July 2023 | Plan 2 |
| England | On or after 1 August 2023 | Plan 5 |
| Wales | On or after 1 August 2023 | Plan 2 |
| Scotland | From 1998 | Plan 4 |
| Northern Ireland | From 1998 | Plan 1 |
| Anywhere | Postgraduate master’s or doctoral | Postgraduate Loan |
Two points that catch people out. Northern Ireland students remain on Plan 1 regardless of when they studied — the threshold changes there have not followed England and Wales. And Scottish students were moved to Plan 4 in 2021; if you studied in Scotland from 1998 onwards you are on Plan 4 even though it did not exist when you graduated.
If you started before 1998 you have an older “mortgage-style” loan, which works differently and is not repaid through PAYE in the same way.
2026/27 thresholds and rates
| Plan | Annual threshold | Rate above it |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | 9% |
| Plan 2 | £29,385 | 9% |
| Plan 4 | £33,795 | 9% |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | 9% |
| Postgraduate | £21,000 | 6% |
You repay a percentage of income above the threshold, not of your whole salary. On £35,000 with a Plan 2 loan you repay 9% of £5,615, which is £505.35 a year — about £42 a month.
See this with tax and National Insurance included
Be careful with figures you find elsewhere. While researching this guide we found sites publishing Plan 1 at £24,990 and Plan 4 at £32,745 — both several years out of date — and one publishing a Plan 5 threshold that has never existed. Check the date on anything you read, including this page.
You repay a percentage of income above the threshold, not of your whole salary. A postgraduate loan is repaid alongside an undergraduate plan.
Postgraduate loans run alongside, not instead
If you have both an undergraduate loan and a Postgraduate Loan, you repay both at the same time.
On £35,000 with Plan 2 and a Postgraduate Loan:
- Plan 2: 9% of £5,615 = £505.35
- Postgraduate: 6% of £14,000 = £840.00
- Total: £1,345.35 a year
The postgraduate loan costs more here than the undergraduate one, because its threshold is far lower. People are frequently surprised by this.
Repayments are worked out per pay period
This is the most common reason a calculator disagrees with a payslip.
Your employer applies the threshold to each pay period in isolation. The monthly Plan 2 threshold is £29,385 ÷ 12 = £2,448.75. Earn more than that in a month and you repay 9% of the excess for that month.
So a bonus month produces a large deduction even if your annual income stays below the threshold — and it is not automatically refunded. If you earn irregularly and your total for the year came in under the threshold, you can apply to the Student Loans Company for a refund. Very few people do.
When repayments start
The April after you finish or leave your course, and only once you earn above the threshold. Plan 5 borrowers do not start before April 2026 at the earliest.
Part-time students start either the April after finishing or the April four years after starting, whichever comes first.
Write-off periods
| Plan | Written off |
|---|---|
| Plan 1 (started 2006/07 or later) | 25 years after the first April you were due to repay |
| Plan 1 (started 2005/06 or earlier) | When you reach 65 |
| Plan 2 | 30 years |
| Plan 4 | 30 years (for 2007/08 starters onwards) |
| Plan 5 | 40 years |
| Postgraduate | 30 years |
Plan 5’s 40-year term is the significant change. Combined with a lower threshold, it means a much higher proportion of Plan 5 borrowers will repay in full rather than reaching write-off.
Should you pay it off early?
Not usually, and it is worth being clear why.
Student loan repayments behave more like a graduate tax than a debt. They are a fixed percentage of income above a threshold, they stop if your income drops, and they are cancelled after the write-off period whatever the balance. The debt does not appear on your credit file and does not affect your credit score, though mortgage lenders do count the repayment in affordability assessments.
If you are unlikely to repay in full before write-off, overpaying simply means paying money you would never otherwise have paid. Voluntary overpayments are also non-refundable.
The calculation changes if you are a high earner on track to clear the balance well before write-off, where interest becomes the dominant factor. That is a real case, just a much narrower one than the “pay off your debt” instinct suggests.
How to check your plan
- Sign in to your Student Loans Company repayment account
- Check your payslip — the deduction line often names the plan
- Ask your employer which plan they have you on
- Your P60 shows the total deducted for the year
If your employer has you on the wrong plan you may be repaying too much or too little. Both are worth fixing.
Sources
- Repaying your student loan: what you’ll pay — GOV.UK
- Repaying your student loan — GOV.UK
- How are student loans changing? — Department for Education
Checked against source on 30 August 2026. This is general guidance, not financial advice.
Written by Nathan Cole
I built the calculators on HoursHQ and check every statutory figure against GOV.UK, Acas and the legislation itself before it goes live. Where the law is genuinely unclear, I say so rather than guessing.