Plan 5 Student Loan Calculator 2026/27
For England courses starting on or after 1 August 2023. 9% of income over £25,000 for up to 40 years.
Last updated: October 2026 · 2026/27 thresholds · interest rates for 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027
Your Plan 5 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 5 repayment this year
£900.00 /year
£75.00 a month: 9% of £10,000 above the £25,000 threshold.
Likely to be repaid in full in about 34 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 | £1,845 | £900 | £45,945 |
| 2 | £36,050 | £1,884 | £995 | £46,834 |
| 3 | £37,132 | £1,920 | £1,092 | £47,663 |
| 4 | £38,245 | £1,954 | £1,192 | £48,425 |
| 5 | £39,393 | £1,985 | £1,295 | £49,115 |
| 6 | £40,575 | £2,014 | £1,402 | £49,727 |
| 7 | £41,792 | £2,039 | £1,511 | £50,254 |
| 8 | £43,046 | £2,060 | £1,624 | £50,691 |
| 9 | £44,337 | £2,078 | £1,740 | £51,029 |
| 10 | £45,667 | £2,092 | £1,860 | £51,261 |
| 11 | £47,037 | £2,102 | £1,983 | £51,379 |
| 12 | £48,448 | £2,107 | £2,110 | £51,375 |
| 13 | £49,902 | £2,106 | £2,241 | £51,241 |
| 14 | £51,399 | £2,101 | £2,376 | £50,965 |
| 15 | £52,941 | £2,090 | £2,515 | £50,540 |
| 16 | £54,529 | £2,072 | £2,658 | £49,955 |
| 17 | £56,165 | £2,048 | £2,805 | £49,198 |
| 18 | £57,850 | £2,017 | £2,956 | £48,259 |
| 19 | £59,585 | £1,979 | £3,113 | £47,125 |
| 20 | £61,373 | £1,932 | £3,274 | £45,784 |
| 21 | £63,214 | £1,877 | £3,439 | £44,221 |
| 22 | £65,110 | £1,813 | £3,610 | £42,425 |
| 23 | £67,064 | £1,739 | £3,786 | £40,378 |
| 24 | £69,076 | £1,656 | £3,967 | £38,067 |
| 25 | £71,148 | £1,561 | £4,153 | £35,474 |
| 26 | £73,282 | £1,454 | £4,345 | £32,583 |
| 27 | £75,481 | £1,336 | £4,543 | £29,376 |
| 28 | £77,745 | £1,204 | £4,747 | £25,833 |
| 29 | £80,077 | £1,059 | £4,957 | £21,936 |
| 30 | £82,480 | £899 | £5,173 | £17,662 |
| 31 | £84,954 | £724 | £5,396 | £12,990 |
| 32 | £87,503 | £533 | £5,625 | £7,897 |
| 33 | £90,128 | £324 | £5,862 | £2,360 |
| 34 | £92,832 | £97 | £2,456 | £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 5 repayments work
Repayments depend on income, not on how much you borrowed. Your employer deducts 9% of pay above the £25,000 2026/27 threshold through PAYE (the threshold is applied per pay period, so a month's pay above £2,083.33 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 40 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.
Plan 5 is for students from England whose course started on or after 1 August 2023: undergraduate degrees, PGCEs, Advanced Learner Loans and Lifelong Learning Entitlement funding. Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish students are not on Plan 5.
Repayments usually start the April after you leave your course, so a three-year degree that began in September 2023 has its first repayments from April 2027. If you are still studying, set "years since repayments began" to 0.
Plan 5 changed three things. The threshold is lower at £25,000 (Plan 2: £29,385), so you repay more each year: £900.00 on £35,000 against £505.35 on Plan 2. Interest is RPI only, 4.1% from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, with no extra real-terms interest for higher earners. And the loan is written off after 40 years, not 30.
The effect is that more graduates are expected to repay in full, but over a longer period. A £45,000 balance starting on £35,000 with 3% pay rises is cleared in about 34 years and costs £101,702 in total. Under Plan 2 rules the same graduate would repay £70,523 and have £106,652 written off.
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 1 Student Loan Calculator
Plan 1 repayments over the threshold, plus the 25-year or age 65 write-off for older loans.
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.
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.
Lifetime ISA Calculator
Project savings with the 25% government bonus for a first home or retirement.
Pro Rata Salary Calculator
Turn a full-time salary into part-time pay, take-home after tax and NI, and pro-rata holiday.
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.