Student Loan Repayment Thresholds 2026/27 for Every Plan

You repay a student loan only on income above your plan's threshold, at 9% for Plans 1, 2, 4 and 5 and 6% for a Postgraduate Loan. The thresholds differ by plan, so the same salary produces very different deductions depending on when and where you studied. The figures below are the latest confirmed thresholds - check them against GOV.UK before relying on them for 2026/27, as the Plan 1 and Plan 4 thresholds are uprated each April.

• Repayments are a percentage of income above the threshold, not of your whole salary.
• Plans 1, 2, 4 and 5 all charge 9%; a Postgraduate Loan charges 6% and runs alongside an undergraduate plan.
• Through PAYE the threshold is applied to each pay period separately, so bonuses and overtime can trigger a deduction in a single month.
• With two jobs, each employer applies the threshold independently - so you can earn well above it in total and repay nothing.
• Student loan repayments are not tax: they never reduce your taxable income or your National Insurance.

Student loan repayment thresholds 2026/27 by plan

Weekly and monthly equivalents are what your payroll software actually uses. The annual figure matters for Self Assessment.

Which plan am I on?

Your plan depends on where you lived when you applied and the year your course started, not on where you live now.

• Plan 1 - English or Welsh students who started before September 2012, and Northern Irish students (including current ones).
• Plan 2 - English or Welsh students who started between September 2012 and July 2023.
• Plan 4 - Scottish students. This has the highest threshold of any plan, so a Scottish graduate on a given salary repays the least.
• Plan 5 - English students who started an undergraduate course from August 2023 onwards.
• Postgraduate Loan - master's and doctoral loans in England and Wales. If you also have an undergraduate loan, both are deducted, giving a combined 15% on income above both thresholds.

If you are not sure, your payslip shows which plan your employer has been told to use, and your online student loan account confirms it. Getting this wrong is the single most common cause of over-deduction.

How much you repay at different salaries

The arithmetic is simple: take your income, subtract the threshold, multiply by the rate. Below is a Plan 5 example using the £25,000 threshold.

Deductions are rounded down to whole pounds in each pay period, so the monthly figures are a pound or two lower than a straight division.

Worked example: an undergraduate and a postgraduate loan together

Priya earns £34,000 in England and has a Plan 5 loan and a Postgraduate Loan.

• Plan 5: £34,000 - £25,000 = £9,000 x 9% = £810
• Postgraduate: £34,000 - £21,000 = £13,000 x 6% = £780
• Total student loan deductions: £1,590 a year, about £132 a month

On top of that she pays 20% income tax and 8% National Insurance on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270. Her effective marginal rate on the next pound she earns is 20% + 8% + 9% + 6% = 43%. A Scottish taxpayer in the 21% intermediate band with a Plan 4 loan faces 21% + 8% + 9% = 38% once past the Plan 4 threshold - Scottish income tax rates apply to earnings, while the loan rules are UK-wide.

Why bonus months bite

PAYE applies the threshold per pay period, with no smoothing across the year. If your monthly pay normally sits just under the Plan 2 monthly figure of £2,372 but a £3,000 bonus lands in March, that month's pay is tested against the monthly threshold and a deduction is taken - even if your annual income for the year is below the annual threshold. Unlike income tax, there is no automatic year-end rebalancing of student loan deductions through your tax code, so overpayments of this kind usually have to be reclaimed from the Student Loans Company.

Two jobs: the quirk worth knowing

Each employer runs student loan deductions against the threshold on its own, because neither knows what the other pays you. That produces results that surprise people.

Take Tom, on Plan 2, with two part-time jobs paying £16,000 and £16,000. Each employer sees monthly pay of about £1,333, comfortably under the £2,372 monthly threshold, so neither deducts anything - despite total earnings of £32,000, which is £3,530 above the annual threshold. Conversely, someone with a main job of £40,000 and a second job of £10,000 has the threshold applied twice in effect, and repays less than a single £50,000 salary would produce.

There is no reconciliation for people taxed purely under PAYE, so these differences are generally not collected later. If you do complete a Self Assessment return, all your income is added together and the annual threshold is applied once, with any shortfall collected through the return.

The same logic applies if you change jobs mid-year, or have a gap between jobs: each employment is assessed on its own pay periods, not on your annual total.

Self-employed and Self Assessment

If you are self-employed, there is no monthly deduction. Your repayment is worked out on your total income for the tax year - trading profits plus employment income plus, in most cases, unearned income such as savings interest, dividends and rental profits once it passes the reporting limit - and the annual threshold is applied once.

Practical points:

• The repayment is calculated by the return and shown in your Self Assessment statement, due by 31 January after the end of the tax year.
• Student loan repayments are not included in payments on account, so the whole year's amount falls due in one go alongside your balancing payment.
• Allowable business expenses reduce profits, which reduces the repayment - the loan is charged on taxable profit, not turnover.
• A pension contribution made from taxable profits does not reduce the income used for student loan purposes in the same way it reduces income tax, so budget for the repayment separately.

Worked example: Dan has trading profits of £38,000 and is on Plan 1. His repayment is (£38,000 - £26,065) x 9% = £11,935 x 9% = £1,074, payable with his 31 January bill. If he also has a Postgraduate Loan, add (£38,000 - £21,000) x 6% = £1,020.

You can check what your combined tax, National Insurance and loan position looks like with the self-employed tax calculator, or model a salary with the income tax calculator.

When repayments stop

Deductions stop when the balance is cleared, when your income falls below the threshold, or when the loan is written off. Write-off periods differ by plan - broadly 25 years or age 65 for older Plan 1 loans, 30 years for Plan 2, Plan 4 and Postgraduate Loans, and 40 years for Plan 5. If you are close to clearing the balance, it is worth switching to direct debit with the Student Loans Company, because PAYE deductions can continue past the point the loan is settled.

What to do next

Work out the exact deduction for your plan and pay pattern with the student loan repayment calculator, then compare it with the figure on your payslip. If the plan shown is wrong, tell your employer and check your record through the GOV.UK student loan repayment service.