When do I start repayments?
You'll be due to start making repayments the April after you finish or leave your course and only if your income is over the repayment threshold. The current threshold is £21,000 a year, £1,750 a month or £404 a week before tax and National Insurance.
You might be asked to make repayments before you’re earning over the threshold, but only if you’ve been overpaid and we can’t adjust your loan payments to correct it.
How are repayments taken?
If you’re employed, your employer will take repayments directly from your salary along with tax and National Insurance. If you stop working or your income drops, repayments will automatically stop until you’re earning over the threshold again.
If you’re self employed, you’ll make repayments at the same time as you pay tax through self assessment.
If you move overseas you must let us know. You’ll repay directly to us.
You can find out more about repaying your loans at https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan
How much will I repay?
The amount you repay will depend on your income, not how much you borrowed. You’ll repay 6% of your income over £21,000 per year, £1,750 a month or £404 a week.
So, if you’re paid monthly and earn £2,500 a month before tax, you’ll repay 6% of the difference between what you earn and the monthly threshold.
£2,500 - £1,750 = £750
6% of £750 = £45
So your Postgraduate Master’s Loan repayment would be £45 in that month.
The table gives some further examples of how much you could repay:
The following table shows how much you’ll repay towards your loan:
| Yearly income before tax | Monthly income before tax | Monthly repayment |
| £21,000 | £1,750 | £0 |
| £22,000 | £1,833 | £4 |
| £23,500 | £1,958 | £12 |
| £25,000 | £2,083 | £19 |
| £30,000 | £2,500 | £45 |
If your income changes, the amount you repay will change too.
If you stop working or start to earn below the repayment threshold, you’ll repay nothing at all until your income is over the threshold again.
You’ll make a repayment if you go over the weekly or monthly threshold at any point during the year, for example if you get a bonus or work overtime. You can request a refund at the end of the tax year if your total income was below £21,000.
If you leave your course early
You’ll still have to repay your loan, but the repayment process might be different.
Borrowing a Postgraduate Master’s Loan won’t affect the repayment of any other student loans you already have for an undergraduate course. If you’ve had any other loans from SLC, you’ll repay these at the same time.
How much you’ll repay towards the student loans you already have will depend on when you studied.
If you started your undergraduate course on or after 1 September 2012 – Plan 2
You’ll repay 9% of your income over £27,295 towards the student loans you borrowed for your undergraduate course and 6% of your income over £21,000 towards your Postgraduate Loan.
This table shows how much you’ll repay towards both your loans.
| Yearly income before tax | Monthly income before tax | Undergraduate Loan repayment | Postgraduate Loan repayment |
| £21,000 | £1,750 | £0 | £0 |
| £22,000 | £1,833 | £0 | £4 |
| £23,500 | £1,958 | £0 | £12 |
| £27,000 | £2,250 | £0 | £30 |
| £29,000 | £2,416 | £12 | £39 |
If you started your undergraduate course between 1 September 1998 and 1 September 2012 – Plan 1
You’ll repay 9% of your income over the repayment threshold which is currently £19,895 towards the student loans you borrowed for your undergraduate course and 6% of your income over £21,000 towards your Postgraduate Loan.
This table shows how much you’ll repay towards both your loans.
| Yearly income before tax | Monthly income before tax | Plan 1 Undergraduate Loan repayment | Postgraduate Loan repayment |
| £19,8195 | £1,657 | £0 | £0 |
| £21,000 | £1,750 | £8 | £0 |
| £25,000 | £2,083 | £38 | £19 |
| £30,000 | £2,500 | £75 | £45 |
If you started your course before 1 September 1998
You’ll continue to repay or defer the loans from your undergraduate course, and you’ll repay 6% of your income over £21,000 towards your Postgraduate Loan. You can’t defer your Postgraduate Master’s Loan. Your repayments will automatically stop if your income falls below the threshold.
Interest
Interest is charged on your Postgraduate Master’s Loan from the day we make the first payment to you until your loan is repaid in full or cancelled.
Interest will normally be charged at the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus 3%. RPI is a measure of UK inflation and measures changes to the cost of living in the UK.
Any Postgraduate Master’s Loan balance remaining after 30 years will be cancelled.
For more information on repayment visit https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan
