How much Plan 5 student loan will I repay on a £30,000 graduate salary in 2026/27?

Full answer

Plan 5 covers most students in England who started an undergraduate course from August 2023 onwards. The repayment rule for 2026/27 is simple: you pay 9% of everything you earn above the annual threshold of £25,000, and nothing on the slice below it. On a £30,000 salary, only £5,000 sits above the threshold, so your annual repayment is 9% × £5,000 = £450, roughly £37.50 a month or about £8.65 a week. The income below £25,000 is completely ignored, so your effective rate across the whole salary is just 1.5%. If you earned exactly £25,000 you would repay nothing. Repayments are collected automatically through PAYE by your employer, calculated on each pay period rather than annually, so a one-off bonus can trigger a deduction even if your yearly pay stays modest. They sit on top of Income Tax and National Insurance: on £30,000 you would also pay around £3,486 Income Tax (20% above the £12,570 Personal Allowance) and £1,394 employee National Insurance (8% between £12,570 and £30,000), leaving the £450 student loan as a separate slice. Crucially, the repayment is based on income, not the size of your debt, so the balance and interest do not change what you repay each month. Plan 5 loans are written off 40 years after you become eligible to repay. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland use different plans: Scottish and Welsh students typically repay under Plan 4 (£32,745 threshold) or Plan 1 respectively, each at 9% above its own threshold, so a £30,000 Scottish graduate on Plan 4 would currently repay nothing. Check which plan you are on via your online student loan account before assuming the figures above apply.

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