Which UK student loan plan applies: by start date, nation, level

UK student-loan repayments are deducted through PAYE, and the amount depends entirely on which plan the borrower is on. There are five — Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5, and the Postgraduate Loan (PGL) — and the right one is fixed by three facts: which UK nation funded the loan, when the course started, and whether it was undergraduate or postgraduate. The decision tree above resolves all three; the figures are the 2026/27 thresholds^[1].

Start with study level. A Postgraduate Loan for a Master's or Doctoral course is always PGL, repaid at 6% of income above £21,000 a year. PGL is the one plan that stacks: a borrower with both an undergraduate loan and a PGL repays on both at once, so a payslip can show two student-loan lines. Every undergraduate plan, by contrast, repays at 9% of income above its threshold.

For an undergraduate loan, nation comes next. Scottish students are on Plan 4 (£33,795). Northern Irish students are on Plan 1 (£26,900). For England and Wales the answer turns on the course start date: courses that began before 1 September 2012 are Plan 1 (£26,900); courses that began between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023 are Plan 2 (£29,385); and courses that began on or after 1 August 2023 are Plan 5 (£25,000). The companion CSV below carries all five plans with annual, monthly, and weekly thresholds. Full plan-by-plan threshold and write-off tables are in Which UK Student Loan Plan Am I On?.

Two cautions sit on this exhibit. The plan is determined by where and when you studied, not by where you now live or work — a Scottish-funded graduate working in London is still Plan 4. And thresholds change every tax year: the figures here are 2026/27. They rose from 2025/26 (Plan 1 £26,065→£26,900, Plan 2 £28,470→£29,385, Plan 4 £32,745→£33,795), while Plan 5 stays at £25,000 until 2027/28 and PGL stays at £21,000. Always pin a repayment calculation to the correct tax year, and confirm the current figures on gov.uk^[1] or via the Student Loans Company^[4].