How much do UK student loan repayments cost each month on each plan?
What you repay on a UK student loan depends on your plan and your pay, not on how much you borrowed. On a £35,000 salary in the 2026-27 tax year, the monthly deduction is £60.75 on Plan 1, £42.11 on Plan 2, £9.04 on Plan 4 and £75.00 on Plan 5.
Plan 5, the plan for students in England who started from August 2023, costs the most each month at every salary, because it starts charging at the lowest threshold of the undergraduate plans: £25,000.
How we worked out these numbers
We ran the UK student loan repayment calculator on this site at ten salaries from £25,000 to £100,000, once for each plan, and once more with a postgraduate loan on its own and on top of Plan 2. The monthly figures are the yearly repayment divided by twelve.
The rule the calculator applies is the one HMRC uses through payroll. Undergraduate plans take 9% of income above the plan's threshold, and the postgraduate loan takes 6% above its own threshold. For 2026-27 the thresholds are:
- Plan 1: £26,900
- Plan 2: £29,385
- Plan 4 (Scotland): £33,795
- Plan 5: £25,000
- Postgraduate loan: £21,000
What the calculator doesn't do matters as much. It doesn't track your balance, it doesn't add interest, and it doesn't know when your plan is written off. That means it can tell you what leaves your pay packet this year, but not how long until the loan is gone. We haven't published a "years to clear" figure for that reason: any number would rest on interest rates and balances the calculator doesn't hold, and for most graduates on Plan 2 and Plan 5 the honest answer is that the balance is written off before it's repaid.
It also works on annual income. Payroll actually checks your pay against a monthly or weekly threshold, so a bonus month can trigger a deduction even if your yearly income sits below the line. Self-employed borrowers repay through Self Assessment instead.
Monthly student loan repayments at every salary
Click any column heading to sort. All amounts are in pounds a month.
UK student loan repayment a month by plan and salary, 2026-27
Download CSVMonthly figure is the annual repayment divided by 12, in pounds rounded to the nearest pound. Postgraduate is shown on its own and alongside Plan 2. Income from employment only.
| £25,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £20 | £20 |
| £30,000 | £23 | £5 | £0 | £38 | £45 | £50 |
| £35,000 | £61 | £42 | £9 | £75 | £70 | £112 |
| £40,000 | £98 | £80 | £47 | £113 | £95 | £175 |
| £45,000 | £136 | £117 | £84 | £150 | £120 | £237 |
| £50,000 | £173 | £155 | £122 | £188 | £145 | £300 |
| £60,000 | £248 | £230 | £197 | £263 | £195 | £425 |
| £70,000 | £323 | £305 | £272 | £338 | £245 | £550 |
| £80,000 | £398 | £380 | £347 | £413 | £295 | £675 |
| £100,000 | £548 | £530 | £497 | £563 | £395 | £925 |
Each plan follows the same shape. Nothing is taken until your pay passes the threshold, then the deduction rises by the same amount for each extra pound. That's why the lines in the chart below run in parallel once they get going: the only thing that differs between them is where they start.
Plan 2 student loan repayment on £35,000 and £50,000
Plan 2 covers most people who started an undergraduate course in England or Wales between 2012 and 2023. On £35,000 the repayment is £42.11 a month, or £505 a year. On £50,000 it rises to £154.61 a month and £1,855 a year, which is 3.7% of gross salary.
Plan 2 has the highest threshold in England, so at the same salary it's cheaper each month than Plan 1 or Plan 5. On £50,000, Plan 1 costs £173.25 a month and Plan 5 costs £187.50.
Plan 5 vs Plan 2: who pays more?
A graduate on Plan 5 pays more every month than one on Plan 2 earning the same salary. On £40,000 the difference is £32.89 a month, about £395 a year. The gap is the same at every salary above the Plan 2 threshold, because both plans charge the same rate and only the starting point differs.
Plan 5 borrowers also repay for longer before write-off than Plan 2 borrowers. That's a rule about the loan rather than the yearly deduction, so it isn't in these figures, but it means the monthly gap adds up over a career.
Plan 4 in Scotland and Plan 1
Plan 4 is for Scottish students, and it has the highest threshold of all at £33,795. On £35,000 it takes £9.04 a month, and on £50,000 £121.54. Plan 1, for older English and Welsh loans and all Northern Ireland loans, sits between Plan 2 and Plan 5.
Repaying a postgraduate loan alongside Plan 2
A Master's or Doctoral loan is repaid at the same time as any undergraduate loan, not after it. The two deductions are worked out separately on the same pay and added together.
On £35,000 the postgraduate loan alone costs £70.00 a month. On £50,000 it's £145.00, and with Plan 2 on top the combined deduction is £299.61 a month, or £3,595 a year. That's 7.2% of gross salary, before any Income Tax or National Insurance.
Getting your own figure
To see your own repayment, enter your salary and plan in the student loan repayment calculator. To see it alongside Income Tax and National Insurance, the UK take-home pay calculator adds your plan to a full payslip view, and our table of UK take-home pay by salary shows what's left before the loan comes out.
