Student Loan Repayment Calculator for Teachers

The five plans and their 2026/27 thresholds

Your plan is set by where and when you studied, not by choice. English undergraduates who started from August 2023 sit on Plan 5; earlier starters are mostly on Plan 2; older or Northern Irish loans can be Plan 1; Scottish borrowers may hold Plan 4; and anyone taking a master's-funded postgraduate loan has a separate PGL running alongside.

Use the calculator

Select your plan or plans, enter your gross annual salary, and see the weekly, monthly and annual deduction. The tool applies the same thresholds and rates shown above, including the combined case where a postgraduate loan sits alongside your undergraduate plan.

What teachers earn versus what they repay

Teacher salaries now start high enough (£34,068 at M1 outside London for 2026/27) that nearly everyone with an outstanding loan repays something. The table shows annual repayment at three common scale points.

Notice how Plan 5 always out-bills Plan 2 at identical salaries because its threshold sits £3,470 lower. For PGCE graduates carrying both an undergraduate loan and a postgraduate loan, deductions stack without offsetting: an M4 teacher with both plans pays £2,318.70 a year, about £193 a month — often the single largest discretionary-looking item on a young teacher's payslip after pension contributions. The take-home pay calculator folds all of this into a full net figure.

Combined loans: the PGCE double hit

This is the scenario most PGCE graduates search for, and the one generic calculators handle worst. The two loans run independently: 9% above £28,470 for the degree, 6% above £21,000 for the master's component, both calculated on the same gross salary with no interaction between them.

Career changers who completed a salaried or fee-funded PGCE frequently hold Plan 2 plus PGL simultaneously. The two run independently: 9% above £28,470 for the degree, 6% above £21,000 for the master's component, calculated on the same gross salary. Because neither threshold offsets the other, combined repayments feel punitive early in teaching careers — but they also burn balances faster, which matters given the write-off clocks discussed below. If you are weighing whether a master's pays back at all, remember the question splits in two: the qualification's salary effect versus the loan levy attached to it. For most classroom teachers the write-off clock answers the second part before retirement.

How the repayment is actually calculated

Every plan uses the same three-line calculation, which explains why debt size never appears in it. Take your gross pay for the pay period, subtract that plan's annual threshold divided across the period, then apply the percentage to what remains.

Two consequences follow from this structure. Repayments flex automatically with overtime, TLR changes and part-time working because each payslip is assessed independently; and no payment is ever due in a month where gross pay falls below the threshold — there is nothing to catch up later. The same arithmetic runs annually for self-assessment taxpayers.

Write-off rules decide everything

For most classroom teachers the interesting number is not the monthly payment but whether the balance outlives the obligation to pay it.

A teacher who finished a Plan 2 undergraduate degree at 22 starts the repayment clock almost immediately and reaches write-off at about 52 — meaning late-career salary growth never touches the loan. A Plan 5 borrower starting at the same age carries obligations until 62, capturing their highest-earning years instead. This asymmetry, more than interest rates, drives which plans cost a lifetime fortune versus a modest levy.

How the money is actually collected

PAYE employers receive a plan marker through HMRC's starter checklist or real-time information feed and deduct alongside income tax each pay period. Teachers paid across two jobs have each employer assess its own salary against the threshold, which can mean neither job triggers repayment even though combined income exceeds it — a quirk worth knowing for teachers mixing classroom work with tutoring. Self-employed assessment runs through self-assessment instead, using annual gross income.

Direct Debit only appears at the margins: when a balance approaches write-off, the Student Loans Company sometimes invites borrowers onto one so they stop paying unnecessarily — genuinely useful in the final two years of any plan. Everyone else stays on PAYE deduction whether they like it or not, which is why reconciling payslips annually matters more than choosing a method ever will.

Overpayments, refunds and payslip errors

Payroll deducts using whatever plan status HMRC holds, so new teachers commonly get deducted on the wrong plan, on two plans at once after a PGCE, or after already clearing a balance. Reconcile annually: calculate what you should have paid from the tables above, compare with payslips, and reclaim via the Student Loans Company where the difference runs the wrong way. Refunds also arise when a salary dipped below threshold part-year but cumulative PAYE deductions ignored that. If your teaching career involves supply stints between contracts, expect reconciliation to be an annual ritual rather than a one-off — agency payroll teams are the least reliable of all when plan status changes mid-year. Our financial planning hub slots this check into a wider annual calendar.

Planning moves around student loans

• Salary sacrifice beats bonus. Pension contributions reduce the income used for repayment calculations, so extra pension saving effectively earns a 9% or 6% discount via reduced loan deductions.
• Time promotions knowingly. Crossing thresholds raises deductions immediately but not proportionally — a U3 promotion adds hundreds to annual repayment, worth knowing before accepting.
• Keep plan evidence forever. Repayment records feed write-off dates; lost history complicates final settlement claims.
• Check bursary interactions. Initial teacher training bursaries are generally not classed as earned income, so they do not trigger repayments during training.