Student loan repayments come off your pay automatically through PAYE, but which plan you're on, how much you actually pay, and what happens if you're repaying two loans at once are three separate questions with three separate answers — and getting any of them wrong is an easy way to over- or under-budget your take-home pay.
👉 Try the UK net salary calculator
The 2026/27 repayment thresholds, plan by plan
Every plan works the same way: nothing comes off your pay until you earn above its threshold, then a fixed percentage of everything above that threshold is deducted.
| Plan | Who it's for | 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | England & Wales, pre-Sept 2012 | £26,900/yr at 9% |
| Plan 2 | England 2012–2023; Wales, any year from 2012 | £29,385/yr at 9% |
| Plan 4 (Scotland) | SAAS-funded, any year | £33,795/yr at 9% |
| Plan 5 | England only, from Aug 2023 | £25,000/yr at 9% |
| Postgraduate Loan | On top of any plan above | £21,000/yr at 6% |
Everyone on Plan 1, 2, 4 or 5 pays the same 9% rate — the Postgraduate Loan is the only one charged at 6%. Northern Ireland borrowers are always on Plan 1, whatever and whenever they studied.
Wales: why you'll never see Plan 5
England introduced Plan 5 for courses starting from August 2023, lowering the threshold to £25,000 and stretching the write-off period to 40 years. Wales looked at the same reform and turned it down. If you funded your studies through Student Finance Wales and started your course on or after September 2012 — including 2023, 2024, 2025 and beyond — you are on Plan 2, full stop. This isn't a rollout delay that will catch up later: the Welsh Government has explicitly kept Plan 2 because it judged Plan 5's longer write-off period less fair to middle and lower earners, who end up repaying more over their lifetime than under Plan 2. Checking your position against an England-focused explainer will just confuse you — Wales never adopted Plan 5.
Which plan applies to you
Two things decide your plan: which nation funded your studies, and — for England specifically — when your course started.
- England: Plan 1 if you started before September 2012, Plan 2 between September 2012 and July 2023, Plan 5 from August 2023 (not in Wales — see above).
- Wales: Plan 1 before September 2012, Plan 2 from September 2012 onwards — never Plan 5.
- Scotland: Plan 4 for any SAAS-funded undergraduate or eligible postgraduate course, regardless of year.
- Northern Ireland: Plan 1, regardless of what or when you studied.
Repaying two loans at once: it doesn't just add up
If you've studied twice, you can end up owing under two different plans — most commonly Plan 1 from an earlier degree and Plan 2 from a later one. You do not pay 9% twice: a single 9% deduction is taken on your income above the lower of the two thresholds, and the Student Loans Company splits that one deduction between your two loans afterwards. On a £35,000 salary with Plan 1 (£26,900 threshold) and Plan 2 (£29,385 threshold), that's 9% of £8,100 — the amount above £26,900 — which is £729 a year, not £1,458.