This UK student loan repayment calculator estimates the deduction an employer takes for the 2026/27 tax year, 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. It covers one undergraduate plan, Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, or Plan 5, and it can add a postgraduate loan on top. The sample is £35,000 a year on Plan 2, paid monthly, with no postgraduate loan. The headline is the deduction for one pay period, rounded down to the pound the way the employer tables round.
The annual thresholds are the ones HMRC tells employers to use: £26,900 for Plan 1, £29,385 for Plan 2, £33,795 for Plan 4, £25,000 for Plan 5, and £21,000 for a postgraduate loan. Undergraduate plans take 9% of earnings over the threshold. A postgraduate loan takes 6%. The take-home pay pages for England and for Scotland do not subtract this deduction. Add it yourself if you want pay after tax, National Insurance, and the loan.
How to use this calculator
- Enter annual gross earnings in pounds. The sample, 35000, means £35,000 for the year before tax.
- Choose one undergraduate plan, or “No undergraduate plan” if you only have a postgraduate loan. Do not pick a second undergraduate plan and add the two results.
- Choose whether a postgraduate loan is repaid as well. That 6% is on top of the undergraduate 9%.
- Choose monthly or weekly pay. Press Calculate. The headline is the deduction for that pay period, already rounded down to a whole pound.
How a 2026/27 student loan deduction is worked out
Payroll does not take 9% of the annual salary and then divide by 12. It takes the earnings in the pay period, subtracts the pay-period threshold, multiplies the excess by 9% or by 6%, and rounds that deduction down to the nearest pound. HMRC’s published monthly thresholds are £2,241.66 for Plan 1, £2,448.75 for Plan 2, £2,816.25 for Plan 4, £2,083.33 for Plan 5, and £1,750.00 for a postgraduate loan. The weekly thresholds are £517.30, £565.09, £649.90, £480.76, and £403.84. This page uses those figures, not a fresh division of the annual threshold.
A flat annual salary is turned into one pay period by dividing by 12 or by 52 and rounding to the penny. £35,000 a month is £2,916.67. Plan 2 then sees £2,916.67 − £2,448.75 = £467.92, times 9% is £42.1128, which rounds down to £42. The straight annual sum, 9% of £35,000 − £29,385, is £505.35. Twelve times the £42 payroll deduction is £504. The £1.35 gap is the penny of pay-period rounding plus the rule that drops anything under the next pound. It is not interest, and it is not a second plan.
Weekly pay uses the same salary and a different threshold. £35,000 over 52 weeks is £673.08. Plan 2 weekly is £673.08 − £565.09 = £107.99, times 9% is £9.719, which rounds down to £9. Fifty-two times £9 is £468, which is £36 less than the monthly method’s £504 and £37.35 less than the straight £505.35. Someone paid weekly really can repay less over a flat year than someone paid monthly, because each week drops its own leftover pence. This page shows that. It does not say one frequency is better. It says the payslip rule is not the annual percentage.
Two undergraduate plans do not mean 18%. If you have Plan 1 and Plan 2, HMRC takes 9% of earnings over the lower threshold and splits that one deduction between the plans. Choose the plan with the lower threshold if you want the total that leaves your pay. Do not run Plan 2 as well and add it. A postgraduate loan is different: it is an extra 6% over £21,000, paid at the same time as the undergraduate 9%. The form allows that combination. Plan 5 is the plan for undergraduate courses that started on or after 1 August 2023, and repayments through payroll start from April 2026. Plan 4 is the Scottish plan.
Formula
Tax year 2026/27. One pay frequency, a flat annual salary. Pay-period earnings = annual salary ÷ 12 or ÷ 52, rounded to the penny Plan 1 threshold = £26,900 a year, £2,241.66 a month, £517.30 a week, at 9% Plan 2 threshold = £29,385 a year, £2,448.75 a month, £565.09 a week, at 9% Plan 4 threshold = £33,795 a year, £2,816.25 a month, £649.90 a week, at 9% Plan 5 threshold = £25,000 a year, £2,083.33 a month, £480.76 a week, at 9% Postgraduate threshold = £21,000 a year, £1,750 a month, £403.84 a week, at 6% Deduction = excess over the pay-period threshold × rate, rounded down to a whole pound Undergraduate plans are not added together. Postgraduate is added to the one undergraduate plan you chose. Annual payroll total = deduction × number of pay periods Straight annual percentage = rate × max(0, salary − annual threshold), kept in pence and not rounded down to a pound
The £28,000 Plan 5 row is a check against the Student Loans Company guide for 2026 to 2027, which lists an approximate monthly repayment of £22 at that income. This calculator shows £22.00 / month. Pay-period earnings are £2,333.33, the excess over £2,083.33 is £250.00, and 9% is £22.50, which rounds down to £22. The straight annual 9% of £3,000 is £270, while twelve payroll deductions are £264.
The postgraduate guide lists about £45 a month at £30,000. With no undergraduate plan and a postgraduate loan, this page shows £45.00 / month. Pay-period earnings are £2,500.00, the excess over £1,750.00 is £750.00, and 6% is £45.00 exactly, so the pound rounding removes nothing. At £21,000 the postgraduate deduction is £0.00, and at £25,000 the Plan 5 deduction is £0.00.
Worked 2026/27 student loan examples
£35,000 on Plan 2, monthly, with and without a postgraduate loan
The sample headline is £42.00 / month. Plan 2 is £42.00, the postgraduate line is £0.00, and pay-period earnings are £2,916.67. If every month matched, the year would be £504.00. The straight annual percentage is £505.35. The threshold line confirms Plan 2 at £29,385 a year and £2,448.75 a month.
Turn the postgraduate loan on and keep Plan 2. The headline is £112.00 / month, made of £42.00 undergraduate and £70.00 postgraduate. The year of matched months is £1,344.00, against a straight annual figure of £1,345.35. The postgraduate piece on its own is 6% of the pay-period excess over £1,750, not 6% of the whole £2,916.67. Someone who adds 6% of £35,000 and ignores the threshold will overstate the loan by a wide margin.
The same Plan 2 salary paid weekly, and Plan 5 at the guide’s £28,000
£35,000 on Plan 2, paid weekly, is £9.00 / week. Pay-period earnings are £673.08 and the weekly threshold is £565.09. Fifty-two weeks at £9 is £468.00, against £504.00 on the monthly method and £505.35 on the straight annual percentage. The salary did not change. The threshold and the rounding did. Use the frequency that matches the payslip you are checking.
£28,000 on Plan 5, paid monthly, is £22.00 / month. That matches the approximate figure in the 2026/27 student-loan guide. The straight annual percentage is £270.00 and the payroll year is £264.00. At £25,000, Plan 5 monthly earnings equal the £2,083.33 threshold and the deduction is £0.00. One pound of annual salary over £25,000 does not produce a deduction until the pay-period excess reaches enough to round to a pound.
Plan 1, Plan 4, and a postgraduate loan with no undergraduate plan
£35,000 on Plan 1, monthly, is £60.00 / month. The threshold is lower than Plan 2, so the deduction is higher: the excess over £2,241.66 is larger than the excess over £2,448.75. The straight annual figure is £729.00, and twelve payroll months are £720.00. If you also had a Plan 2 loan, you would not add the £42 Plan 2 result to this £60. The total undergraduate deduction would be the Plan 1 amount, split between the plans. Adding both overstates the payslip.
£35,000 on Plan 4, the Scottish plan, is £9.00 / month. The threshold is £33,795, so only a thin slice of £35,000 is over it. The straight annual figure is £108.45 and the payroll year is £108.00. A postgraduate loan with no undergraduate plan, at £30,000 monthly, is £45.00 / month and a straight annual £540.00. At £21,000 that postgraduate deduction is £0.00. Plan 4 and a postgraduate loan can be selected together. They answer different loans.
2026/27 deductions from a flat salary
| Salary | Plan | This month | Payroll year | Straight annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £28,000 | Plan 5 | £22.00 | £264.00 | £270.00 |
| £30,000 | Postgraduate only | £45.00 | £540.00 | £540.00 |
| £35,000 | Plan 2 | £42.00 | £504.00 | £505.35 |
| £35,000 | Plan 2 plus postgraduate | £112.00 | £1,344.00 | £1,345.35 |
| £35,000 | Plan 1 | £60.00 | £720.00 | £729.00 |
| £35,000 | Plan 4 | £9.00 | £108.00 | £108.45 |
| £35,000 | Plan 5 | £75.00 | £900.00 | £900.00 |
| £50,000 | Plan 2 plus postgraduate | £299.00 | £3,588.00 | £3,595.35 |
What this student loan deduction leaves out
The salary is treated as a flat amount in every pay period. A bonus, overtime, or a month of statutory pay can push one period over the threshold even when the annual salary looks close to it, or the reverse. HMRC’s instruction for earnings above the printed tables is the same threshold-and-rate sum this page uses, still rounded down to the pound. Directors and irregular pay are not given a special rule here.
Interest on the loan balance is not calculated. The balance does not change the deduction. Repayments stop being due through payroll once Student Loans Company tells the employer to stop, which can happen near the end of the loan even if income is still over the threshold. This page cannot see that notice. Voluntary payments you send yourself are not in the headline.
Plan 1 together with Plan 2 is one 9% deduction over the lower threshold, not two. The form has only one undergraduate menu so that mistake is harder to make, but nothing stops you from adding two visits. Overseas thresholds are different from these UK thresholds and are not used. The deduction is also not income tax and not National Insurance. The England, Wales, and Northern Ireland take-home page, and the Scotland page, stop before the loan.
Earnings below the pay-period threshold produce a zero deduction for that plan even if a previous month was over it. There is no annual reconciliation in ordinary PAYE that refunds you merely because the year’s total ended near the annual threshold. If your pay is uneven, add the monthly results yourself. Do not assume the straight annual column is what left the bank account.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a Plan 2 deduction on £35,000 a month in 2026/27?
£42.00. Monthly earnings are taken as £2,916.67, the Plan 2 monthly threshold is £2,448.75, and 9% of the excess rounds down from £42.11 to £42. Twelve such months are £504.00. The straight 9% of £35,000 minus £29,385 is £505.35.
Why is the weekly Plan 2 total for the same £35,000 lower than the monthly total?
Each week is rounded down on its own. The weekly deduction is £9.00, and 52 weeks are £468.00. The monthly method produces £504.00. The salary and the 9% rate are the same. The weekly threshold is £565.09, and the discarded pence are not saved up for a later week.
Do Plan 1 and Plan 2 both come out at 9%?
No. If you have both, the payslip takes 9% over the lower threshold and splits that one amount. On £35,000 the Plan 1 monthly deduction is £60.00 and the Plan 2 deduction on its own is £42.00. Adding those two overstates the undergraduate repayment. Choose the lower threshold when you want the combined total.
Is a postgraduate loan included in the undergraduate 9%?
No. It is an extra 6% over £21,000, and it is paid at the same time. On £35,000 monthly, Plan 2 plus a postgraduate loan is £112.00, of which £70.00 is the postgraduate part. A postgraduate loan alone at £30,000 is £45.00 a month, which matches the approximate figure in the 2026/27 guide.
What does Plan 5 take from £28,000 in 2026/27?
£22.00 a month on this calculator, the same approximate repayment the student-loan guide lists for that income. The annual threshold is £25,000 and the monthly threshold is £2,083.33. At exactly £25,000 the monthly deduction is £0.00.
Does the England take-home calculator already subtract this loan?
No. That page is income tax and employee National Insurance only. Its limits name these same 2026/27 thresholds and leave the loan out. Subtract this deduction from that take-home figure yourself, and only when both results are for the same salary and the same year.
Related ClearCalc pages
- 2026/27 take-home pay for England, Wales and Northern Ireland Income tax and employee National Insurance. It does not subtract this student loan.
- Scotland take-home pay calculator for 2026/27 Scottish income tax and the same National Insurance. Plan 4 is still a separate deduction.
- Hourly to salary calculator Turn an hourly rate into an annual figure first if the loan threshold is easier to compare with a salary.