How Much Will I Repay on My Student Loan? (UK Plans 1, 2, 4, 5 & Postgraduate)

UK student loan repayments are 9% of your income above your plan's threshold (6% for a Postgraduate Loan), deducted automatically through payroll — not a fixed monthly bill and not a debt that shows on your credit file. Which threshold applies depends entirely on which plan you're on, and the gap between plans is large: Plan 5 starts repayment at £25,000 a year, Plan 4 at £33,795.

This is how each plan works for 2026/27, and the things that trip people up.

The thresholds and rates by plan

Plan	Who it's usually for	Threshold	Rate above threshold
Plan 1	English/Welsh students who started before 2012; all Northern Ireland students	£26,900/year	9%
Plan 2	English/Welsh undergraduates, courses started 2012–2023	£29,385/year	9%
Plan 4	Scottish students	£33,795/year	9%
Plan 5	English undergraduates, courses started August 2023 onward	£25,000/year	9%
Postgraduate Loan	Master's or Doctoral loan, England/Wales	£21,000/year	6%

Source: gov.uk — how much you repay. These are annual thresholds; payroll actually applies them per pay period (roughly £2,083/month for a £25,000 annual threshold), so repayments can start and stop within a tax year if your income fluctuates.

How the 9% actually gets calculated

It's 9% of the amount above the threshold, not 9% of your whole salary.

Worked example — Plan 2, £35,000 salary:

• Income above threshold: £35,000 − £29,385 = £5,615.
• Annual repayment: 9% × £5,615 = £505.35.
• Roughly £42 a month, deducted alongside tax and NI.

Same salary, Plan 5:

• Income above threshold: £35,000 − £25,000 = £10,000.
• Annual repayment: 9% × £10,000 = £900.
• Roughly £75 a month — nearly double, for the same salary, purely because of the lower Plan 5 threshold.

Use the student loan repayment calculator to run your own numbers, including the combined undergraduate-plus-postgraduate case below.

If you have both an undergraduate plan and a Postgraduate Loan

You repay both simultaneously, each against its own threshold:

• 6% of income above £21,000 (Postgraduate Loan), plus
• 9% of income above your undergraduate plan's threshold (Plan 1, 2, 4 or 5).

On a £35,000 salary with Plan 2 + Postgraduate Loan: 6% × (£35,000 − £21,000) = £840, plus 9% × (£35,000 − £29,385) = £505.35. Total: £1,345.35/year, around £112/month. There's no overall cap that stops the two adding together.

Which plan am I actually on?

This is the single most common point of confusion, because it depends on when and where you studied, not your current situation:

• Plan 1: started an English or Welsh course before September 2012, or you're from Northern Ireland (any start date).
• Plan 2: started an English or Welsh undergraduate course between September 2012 and July 2023.
• Plan 4: you're a Scottish student (SAAS-funded), regardless of when you studied.
• Plan 5: started an English undergraduate course from August 2023 onward.
• Postgraduate Loan: a separate Master's or Doctoral loan, on top of whichever undergraduate plan applies.

If you're not sure, check your online student loan account rather than guessing — the wrong plan number on a P60 or tax code query wastes time.

Does it affect my credit score or mortgage application?

Credit file: no. Student loan balances don't appear on your credit report and don't affect your credit score, because it isn't classed as consumer credit.

Mortgage affordability: yes, indirectly. Lenders don't see the loan as debt on your credit file, but they do ask about it (or infer it from payslips/bank statements) and treat the monthly deduction as reduced disposable income — the same way they'd treat a pension contribution or childcare cost. A Plan 5 borrower with the same salary as a Plan 2 borrower will typically show slightly lower take-home pay in an affordability assessment. See our mortgage affordability guide for how lenders build that calculation.

When does it get written off?

Each plan writes off any remaining balance after a fixed period from the April you were first due to start repaying — not from when you graduated:

• Plan 1: 25 years (or age 65, for loans taken out before September 2006).
• Plan 2: 30 years.
• Plan 4: 30 years, or age 65, whichever comes first.
• Plan 5: 40 years.
• Postgraduate Loan: 30 years.

Source: gov.uk — when your loan is written off. Plan 5's 40-year term is the longest of any plan — most Plan 5 borrowers on typical graduate salaries are projected to still be repaying, or close to write-off, well into their 60s, rather than clearing the balance outright.

Should I overpay it?

For most graduates, no — not because it's a bad idea in principle, but because the loan behaves more like a graduate tax than a conventional debt: repayments are income-contingent, stop automatically if your income drops, and any remaining balance is written off after the period above regardless of size. Overpaying only helps if you're confident you'll clear the balance in full before write-off — broadly, higher earners on Plan 1, Plan 2 or Plan 4 are more likely to be in that position than typical Plan 5 borrowers, given the 40-year term. If you're deciding between overpaying a student loan and other priorities (emergency fund, high-interest debt, pension match), see our order of operations guide.

Internal links

• Student loan repayment calculator
• How much can I borrow on my salary in the UK?
• UK tax codes explained
• The UK personal finance order of operations

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This guide is information, not regulated financial advice. Thresholds are reviewed and can change between tax years — confirm your plan and current threshold on gov.uk before making decisions. See our disclaimer.