How repayments are worked out
You repay a percentage of your income above your plan's threshold — the size of the loan itself doesn't affect the monthly or yearly amount you repay. Once your income for the year is over the threshold, you pay the set rate on everything above it.
Plan types and thresholds
GOV.UK's current thresholds and rates are:
- Plan 1: £26,900 a year — 9%
- Plan 2: £29,385 a year — 9%
- Plan 4: £33,795 a year — 9%
- Plan 5: £25,000 a year — 9%
- Postgraduate Loan: £21,000 a year — 6%
Self-employed and Self Assessment repayments
If you file Self Assessment, GOV.UK confirms HMRC calculates your repayment from your total yearly income on your Self Assessment return, rather than job by job. This matters for directors and the self-employed, whose income might otherwise be spread across salary, dividends and profit that no single employer sees in full.
More than one job, or more than one loan
If you have several jobs taxed under PAYE, repayments are worked out separately for each job against the threshold, so combined pay across jobs doesn't automatically trigger a repayment the way it does through Self Assessment. If you have loans on more than one plan, you repay based on the lowest threshold among them, with rules to divide the repayment between the loans.
Getting the figure right
Because a Self Assessment repayment is based on your whole year's income, it is easy to under- or overestimate what you'll owe if you don't plan for it alongside your Income Tax and National Insurance. We include it in the figures we give you before your return is filed.
Need a hand with your return?
We prepare and file Self Assessment returns for directors, sole traders and landlords, and tell you exactly what is due and when before anything is submitted. Call 0114 327 1480.