Plan 1 Student Loan Calculator 2026/27
For England and Wales courses that started before September 2012, and all Northern Ireland loans. 9% of income over £26,900.
Last updated: October 2026 · 2026/27 thresholds · interest rates for 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027
Your Plan 1 loan
From your Student Loans Company online account.
Full years since the April you were first due to repay.
Optional. See whether overpaying changes the outcome.
Plan 1 repayment this year
£729.00 /year
£60.75 a month: 9% of £8,100 above the £26,900 threshold.
Likely to be repaid in full in about 13 years.
Each extra £1 you earn
20% income tax + 8% NI + 9% student loan = 37% deducted, so you keep 63%.
Year-by-year projection
| Year | Salary | Interest | Repaid | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £35,000 | £492 | £729 | £11,763 |
| 2 | £36,050 | £482 | £824 | £11,422 |
| 3 | £37,132 | £468 | £921 | £10,969 |
| 4 | £38,245 | £450 | £1,021 | £10,398 |
| 5 | £39,393 | £426 | £1,124 | £9,700 |
| 6 | £40,575 | £398 | £1,231 | £8,867 |
| 7 | £41,792 | £364 | £1,340 | £7,890 |
| 8 | £43,046 | £323 | £1,453 | £6,760 |
| 9 | £44,337 | £277 | £1,569 | £5,468 |
| 10 | £45,667 | £224 | £1,689 | £4,004 |
| 11 | £47,037 | £164 | £1,812 | £2,355 |
| 12 | £48,448 | £97 | £1,939 | £513 |
| 13 | £49,902 | £21 | £534 | £0 |
Holds the threshold and interest rate at today's levels and adds interest once a year; the Student Loans Company charges it daily, and both figures are reviewed each year.
How Plan 1 repayments work
Repayments depend on income, not on how much you borrowed. Your employer deducts 9% of pay above the £26,900 2026/27 threshold through PAYE (the threshold is applied per pay period, so a month's pay above £2,241.67 triggers a deduction). Self-employed borrowers repay through Self Assessment. Earn below the threshold and you pay nothing, while interest still builds up.
This calculator projects your balance each year until it is cleared or written off after 25 years, so you can see whether you are on course to repay it, how much you repay in total, and whether overpaying would change anything. Compare all the plans side by side on the student loan calculator.
You are on Plan 1 if you took out an undergraduate loan in England or Wales for a course that started before 1 September 2012, or if you studied in Northern Ireland, where every student loan, undergraduate or postgraduate, is Plan 1. Northern Ireland postgraduates therefore do not use the separate Postgraduate Loan plan.
Plan 1 has the lowest repayment threshold of the four undergraduate plans apart from Plan 5, at £26,900 for 2026/27. If you also have a Plan 2 loan, for example from a second degree, you repay 9% of income over the Plan 1 threshold in one combined deduction, which is split between the two loans.
Plan 1 has two write-off rules, depending on when the first loan for your course was paid:
- On or after 1 September 2006: written off 25 years after the April you were first due to repay.
- Before 1 September 2006: written off when you reach 65.
Tick the older-loan box above if the second rule applies to you and the projection counts down to your 65th birthday instead.
Student loan calculators by plan
This calculator is part of a family. The main calculator covers the general case.
Main calculator: Student Loan Calculator
Monthly repayments for Plan 1, 2, 4, 5 and Postgraduate at the latest HMRC thresholds.
Plan 2 Student Loan Calculator
Plan 2 repayments, income-linked interest and whether your balance is cleared before write-off.
Plan 4 Student Loan Calculator
Scottish Plan 4 repayments at the highest threshold, with your Scottish tax and NI marginal rate.
Plan 5 Student Loan Calculator
Plan 5 repayments for English courses from August 2023, projected over the 40-year term.
Postgraduate Loan Calculator
Postgraduate Loan repayments at 6%, on top of your undergraduate plan, projected to write-off.
Related calculators
Other free UK tools that follow on from this calculation.
Student Loan Calculator
Monthly repayments for Plan 1, 2, 4, 5 and Postgraduate at the latest HMRC thresholds.
Salary Calculator
Annual, monthly and weekly take-home pay after PAYE, NI, pension and student loan.
Income Tax Calculator
PAYE tax, National Insurance and take-home pay for any UK salary, including Scotland.
Mortgage Affordability Calculator
How much UK lenders will typically offer at 4.5×, 5× or 5.5× income with your deposit.
Reviewed by Alexandre Bernier, LLM (UK), CFP®
Educational tool: estimates only. Not individual financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Using it does not create an adviser-client relationship. Rules and figures change; check them against current HMRC and GOV.UK guidance and speak to a qualified professional. Editorial policy →
Sources
Every rate and threshold used by this calculator is taken from the official pages below. If a figure here disagrees with one of these, the official page is right, please tell us.