UK student loans are repaid as a percentage of income above a plan-specific threshold, deducted through PAYE. This calculator applies the 2025/26 thresholds for each plan and shows your repayment per year, month, and week.
Understanding the different plans
The plan you are on depends on when and where you studied — it is not a choice.
- Plan 1: students who started an undergraduate course in England or Wales before September 2012, or in Northern Ireland at any time.
- Plan 2: students who started an undergraduate course in England or Wales from September 2012 onwards (if enrolled before August 2023).
- Plan 4: students who studied in Scotland and took out a student loan, managed by SAAS. The threshold is higher than all other plans.
- Plan 5: students who started an undergraduate course in England from August 2023 onwards. This new plan has a lower threshold than Plan 2 and a longer write-off period.
- Postgraduate Loan (PGL): postgraduate master’s or doctoral students. Charged at 6% (not 9%) above a separate lower threshold.
Income-contingent repayment, plan by plan
You repay 9% of everything you earn above your plan’s threshold (6% for postgraduate loans). The 2025/26 thresholds are: Plan 1 £26,065, Plan 2 £28,470, Plan 4 (Scotland) £32,745, Plan 5 £25,000, and Postgraduate £21,000. The balance of your loan does not affect the monthly amount — only your income does.
repayment = (income − threshold) × 9% (6% for postgraduate)If you hold both an undergraduate plan and a postgraduate loan, the two repayments are charged together.
Worked examples
Plan 2, £35,000 salary:
- Income above threshold: £35,000 − £28,470 = £6,530
- Annual repayment: £6,530 × 9% = £587.70
- Monthly: about £48.98 | Weekly: about £11.30
Plan 5, £30,000 salary (new 2023-entry graduates):
- Income above threshold: £30,000 − £25,000 = £5,000
- Annual repayment: £5,000 × 9% = £450.00
- Monthly: £37.50
Plan 4 (Scotland), £50,000 salary:
- Income above threshold: £50,000 − £32,745 = £17,255
- Annual repayment: £17,255 × 9% = £1,552.95
- Monthly: about £129.41
Postgraduate loan stacked on Plan 2, £35,000 salary:
- Plan 2 repayment (as above): £587.70/year
- PGL repayment: (£35,000 − £21,000) × 6% = £840.00/year
- Combined annual deduction: £1,427.70 — nearly three times what many borrowers expect from their payslip.
Write-off dates and interest
Repayments are income-contingent — the balance doesn’t affect monthly amounts, but it matters because loans are written off after a fixed period. Plan 1 is written off 25 years from the April after first repayment was due, Plan 2 after 30 years, Plan 4 after 30 years, and Plan 5 after 40 years. Postgraduate loans are written off after 30 years. Many borrowers on Plan 2 and 5 will never fully repay, because the balance grows with interest during lower-income years, so whether to make voluntary overpayments depends entirely on your projected lifetime income — a complex calculation this tool does not make.
Estimate only, not financial advice. Verify at gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan.
Why it behaves like a graduate tax, not a loan
Because repayments are a fixed percentage of income above a threshold — not a function of the balance — two graduates with identical salaries repay identical amounts each month regardless of whether they owe £5,000 or £80,000. The balance only determines how long repayments continue before the write-off date clears whatever remains. Three consequences follow:
- A bigger balance often changes nothing. For middle earners on Plan 2, the majority never repay in full before write-off; extra borrowing (or interest accrual) simply adds to a number that was never going to reach zero anyway.
- Voluntary overpayment is a genuine decision, not an obvious win. Overpaying only helps borrowers who will clear the balance before write-off — typically high earners early in their careers. For everyone else, overpayments are money handed to a balance that would have been written off regardless. Model your expected earnings path before overpaying.
- Payslip deductions stop and start with income. Drop below the threshold — career break, part-time year, unemployment — and repayments stop automatically. There is nothing to renegotiate and no arrears accrue.
Where the thresholds and rules live
Thresholds are set per plan and revised (or frozen) by government decision, which changes the real burden year to year — a frozen threshold during wage inflation quietly increases everyone’s repayments. Check the current figures on GOV.UK’s repaying your student loan guidance and your balance and plan type via your Student Loans Company account before making any overpayment decision. One administrative trap worth knowing: repayments collected via PAYE continue until HMRC tells your employer to stop, so borrowers who clear their balance mid-year should switch to direct-debit repayment for the final year to avoid over-collection and a refund chase.
When comparing job offers or modelling a pay rise, include the loan deduction in your marginal-rate maths: a Plan 2 graduate in the higher-rate band faces income tax, National Insurance and the 9% loan deduction on each extra pound — a combined marginal rate that regularly surprises first-time negotiators and materially changes the value of salary versus pension or other benefits.