Student Loan Repayment Calculator

Repayment is a share of income above a threshold, and nothing else. The size of the loan does not change the monthly figure, and neither does the interest. On Plan 2 at £45,000 a year, 9 per cent of the £15,615 above the £29,385 threshold for 2026/27 is £1,405.35 a year, which is £117.11 a month.

PAYE does not work on the year. Your employer compares each pay period against the monthly version of the threshold, so a month above it is charged even when the year as a whole comes in below the annual figure. A Plan 2 borrower on £2,300 a month is under the £29,385 annual threshold for the year, and a £1,000 bonus in one month takes that month to £3,300, above the £2,448.75 monthly threshold. That month alone loses £76.61, and gov.uk's answer is a refund claim to the Student Loans Company after the tax year ends.

Thresholds change every 6 April. The monthly figure is the one PAYE uses, and gov.uk publishes it in its own right rather than leaving it to be divided out of the annual figure.

• Plan 1. In force since 6 April 2026, and confirmed to rise to £28,005 from 6 April 2027.
• Plan 2. Frozen at £29,385 for three years, 2027-28 to 2029-30, before RPI linked rises resume from April 2030.
• Plan 4. The highest threshold of any plan. Raised from £32,745 in April 2026 by the Scottish Government.
• Plan 5. The lowest threshold of any plan. Frozen at £25,000 since launch until April 2027, after which it rises with RPI.
• Postgraduate Loan. Frozen at £21,000 since the loan launched in 2016/17. No increase has been announced.

Thresholds read from gov.uk: Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 on 20 September 2026.

The plan follows the country that funded the course and the date the course started. It is not a choice, and it does not change when you move.

Plan 1

Student Finance Northern Ireland borrowers on any undergraduate or postgraduate loan, whatever the start date, and Student Finance England and Student Finance Wales borrowers whose undergraduate course started before 1 September 2012.

Plan 2

Student Finance England borrowers on an undergraduate course, PGCE or Advanced Learner Loan who started between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023, and Student Finance Wales borrowers on the same course types who started on or after 1 September 2012 with no end date, because Wales kept Plan 2 rather than adopting Plan 5.

Plan 4

Student Awards Agency Scotland borrowers: Scottish domiciled undergraduate loans, and Scottish taught postgraduate master's loans, which sit on Plan 4 rather than on the separate Postgraduate Loan product. SAAS does not fund doctoral study, so there is no Scottish doctoral loan on any plan.

Plan 5

Student Finance England borrowers only, on undergraduate, PGCE, Advanced Learner Loan and Lifelong Learning Entitlement courses that started on or after 1 August 2023. First repayments began in April 2026.

Postgraduate Loan

Master's and doctoral students who took a Postgraduate Loan from Student Finance England or Student Finance Wales. Scottish postgraduate borrowing sits on Plan 4 and Northern Irish postgraduate borrowing on Plan 1, both at 9 per cent and a higher threshold.

The Postgraduate Loan is the only one at 6 per cent, and it is taken on top of an undergraduate plan rather than instead of it. Entry to the master's it funds usually asks for a 2:1, which the degree classification calculator works out from module marks and credits rather than from the Tariff points an undergraduate offer is scored on, which the UCAS points calculator adds up.

An undergraduate plan and the Postgraduate Loan are worked out separately and added into one payroll deduction. At £45,000, Plan 2 takes £117.11 a month and the Postgraduate Loan takes £120.00, so the payslip shows £237.11 a month and £2,845.35 a year.

Two undergraduate plans do not stack that way. There is one deduction of 9 per cent of income over the lower of the two thresholds, and it is split between the loans. The Plan 1 share is capped at 9 per cent of the gap between the two thresholds, which is £18.64 a month, and everything above that cap goes to Plan 2.

Interest changes on 1 September and runs to the following August, set by the RPI figure measured the preceding March. That figure is 4.1 per cent for 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027. Interest does not change what comes off your pay. It changes the balance, and the balance only matters for borrowers who clear it before the write-off date.

Plan 2 is the only plan whose rate moves with income. The formula runs from 4.1 per cent at £29,385 up to 7.1 per cent at £52,885, and the government cap holds the charged rate at no more than 6 per cent for 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027. The freeze announced for the £29,385 repayment threshold says nothing about the £52,885 interest point, so whether that is frozen with it is unconfirmed.

• Plan 1. 25 years after the April you were first due to start repaying, for loans first paid out on or after 1 September 2006. Loans paid out before that date are cancelled when the borrower turns 65.
• Plan 2. 30 years after the April you were first due to start repaying.
• Plan 4. 30 years after the April you were first due to start repaying, for loans first paid on or after 1 August 2007. Earlier loans are cancelled at age 65 or after 30 years, whichever comes first.
• Plan 5. 40 years after the April you were first due to start repaying, the longest of any plan, which is the trade for the lower threshold and the lower interest.
• Postgraduate Loan. 30 years after the April you were first due to start repaying.

Interest and write-off periods read from gov.uk: Student loans, a guide to terms and conditions 2026 to 2027, gov.uk: Student loans interest rates and repayment threshold announcement and House of Commons Library: Student loan statistics and 2026/27 rates FAQ (CBP-10654) on 20 September 2026. The freeze itself is announced in CIPP: Plan 2 student loan threshold is to be frozen.