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HMRC TABLES, 6 APRIL 2026
Student loan thresholds for 2026/27.
The repayment is a percentage of earnings over a threshold. It is collected with tax. It is not a slice of the loan balance, and it does not care what the interest rate did this month.
| Plan | Annual threshold | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | 9% |
| Plan 2 | £29,385 | 9% |
| Plan 4 (Scotland) | £33,795 | 9% |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | 9% |
| Postgraduate | £21,000 | 6% |
These annual thresholds are the ones HMRC published for collection from 6 April 2026. Plan 2 rose to £29,385. Plan 5, for English borrowers who started from August 2023, stays at £25,000. A postgraduate loan is charged as well as an undergraduate plan, not instead of it. On £40,000 of pay, Plan 2 is 9% of £40,000 minus £29,385, which is about £955. Plan 5 on the same pay is 9% of £15,000, which is £1,350. The plan number matters more than the interest rate if the question is this year’s payslip.
The take-home calculator uses these thresholds on pay after salary sacrifice. If your pension is relief at source, the loan is usually calculated on the higher, pre-pension figure. Do not use the sacrifice box for that.
Questions
Can I repay two loans at once?
Yes. An undergraduate plan and a postgraduate loan are both deducted. Tick postgraduate as well as the plan.
Are weekly thresholds exactly the annual figure divided by 52?
Payroll uses HMRC’s published weekly and monthly tables, which are rounded. Our tool uses the annual thresholds, so a single pay period can differ by a pound.
Same salary, different plan, different deduction
On £40,000, Plan 2 is 9% of £40,000 minus £29,385, about £955 a year. Plan 5, with a £25,000 threshold, is 9% of £15,000, which is £1,350. Plan 1, threshold £26,900, is 9% of £13,100, about £1,179. Plan 4, the Scottish plan, starts at £33,795, so the same salary costs less. A postgraduate loan at 6% over £21,000 is added on top of whichever undergraduate plan you have. It does not replace it.
The deduction follows pay after salary sacrifice on this site. Payroll uses rounded weekly and monthly tables, so a single payslip can differ by about a pound from the annual figure divided by twelve. The interest rate on the loan does not change this year’s payslip.
Postgraduate on top of Plan 2
On £36,000, Plan 2 is 9% of £36,000 minus £29,385, about £595. A postgraduate loan on the same pay is 6% of £36,000 minus £21,000, which is £900. Both come out. The combined deduction is about £1,495, not the larger of the two. People who only tick one box in the calculator will overstate take-home if they hold both loans.
Thresholds used here are the annual figures HMRC published for collection from 6 April 2026. Plan 2 is £29,385. Plan 5 stays at £25,000. Plan 4, for Scottish student loans, is £33,795 and is not the same thing as Scottish income tax.