What is my take-home pay on £28,000 with a Plan 5 student loan in 2026/27?

Full answer

On a £28,000 salary in 2026/27, taxable income of £15,430 gives £3,086 Income Tax (20% basic rate), and National Insurance is 8% of the same amount, £1,234.40, leaving £23,679.60 before any student loan repayment. Plan 5 student loans (taken out by most English undergraduates who started their course from August 2023 onwards) are repaid at 9% of income above the frozen £25,000 threshold for 2026/27 -- the lowest threshold of any current plan type. On £28,000, the amount above the threshold is £3,000, so the repayment is 9% of £3,000, which is £270 for the year, deducted automatically through PAYE. This leaves take-home pay of £23,409.60 a year, around £1,950.80 a month -- £270 less than the £23,679.60 someone without a student loan would keep on the same salary. Because Plan 5's threshold is considerably lower than Plan 2's £29,385, a Plan 5 graduate starts repaying much earlier in their career on a lower salary than someone with an older Plan 2 loan would on the same income. Plan 5 also has the longest write-off period of any plan -- 40 years after becoming eligible to repay -- reflecting its design to capture more graduates into partial or full repayment over their working life, even though monthly repayments at low-to-mid salaries can be smaller than under some other plans.

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More answers

• How much Plan 5 student loan will I repay on a £30,000 graduate salary in 2026/27?
• What is the difference between Plan 2 and Plan 5 student loans?