NHS Student Loan Calculator 2026/27

Last updated: 16 October 2026 · Figures verified against GOV.UK student loan repayment thresholds for 2026/27 and the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

The calculator

Which plan am I on?

Your plan depends on when and where you studied, not where you work now:

Most early-career NHS staff - nurses, midwives and allied health professionals who trained from 2012 onwards - are on Plan 2. Staff who started courses from August 2023 are on Plan 5, which has a lower threshold of £25,000 and a 40-year write-off instead of Plan 2's 30 years. If you studied in Scotland you are on Plan 4 even if you now work in England, and that higher £33,795 threshold is a genuine advantage. Student nurses should also see our student nurse finance guide, which covers how tuition loans, maintenance support and the Learning Support Fund interact while you train.

If you are not sure which plan you are on, check your Student Loans Company statement. The wrong plan on your payroll record means wrong deductions every month, and it is one of the most common errors on NHS payslips.

2026/27 thresholds and rates

These are the official 2026/27 figures from GOV.UK, the same ones the calculator uses:

Source: GOV.UK - Repaying your student loan: how much you repay.

The formula never changes: (pay − threshold) × rate, applied only to the amount above the threshold. Your loan balance, and the interest added to it, have no effect on the monthly deduction. Earn below the threshold and you pay nothing - there is no minimum repayment and no penalty.

The thresholds are reviewed each year. Plan 5's £25,000 threshold is notably lower than Plan 2's £29,385, which means two colleagues on identical Band 5 pay can have very different deductions simply because one trained before August 2023 and the other after. That difference alone is worth checking before you join a trust.

How payroll works out your deduction

• Per pay period, not per year. NHS payroll compares each month's gross pay against the monthly threshold. A month with heavy overtime, a night-shift run, or a pay award back payment can push you over the threshold and trigger a deduction even if your basic annual salary sits below it. Bank staff paid weekly are assessed against the weekly threshold instead.
• Refund safety valve. If your annual income ends up below the yearly threshold, you can ask the Student Loans Company for a refund of that year's repayments after the tax year ends. This matters most for part-time staff and anyone whose income is patchy.
• Per job, not combined. If you hold two NHS jobs - for example a substantive post plus bank work paid through a separate payroll - each payroll assesses its own pay against the threshold. The two incomes are not combined for the repayment calculation.
• Gross pay counts. Repayments are calculated on gross pay before tax, including overtime, enhancements and bonuses. The deduction itself then comes out of your net pay: student loan is not a tax and does not reduce your taxable income. See the full payslip order of operations in our NHS payslip guide.
• Payslips show whole pounds. The calculator shows pence for precision, but GOV.UK's own examples confirm payroll deductions land in whole pounds: 9% of £509, for instance, is £45.81, but the monthly repayment is shown as £45.

Worked examples by NHS band

Using 2026/27 England basic salaries (before enhancements, which would increase repayments). Every row below matches the calculator's output for the same inputs:

Three things stand out. First, the Plan 5 threshold is low enough that even Band 2 staff start repaying almost immediately: £2 a month is small, but it starts early. Second, a Band 2 on Plan 2 pays nothing at all on basic pay, because £25,272 sits below the £29,385 threshold - the plan, not the band, decides. Third, the postgraduate loan is the biggest surprise: on the Band 5 mid row it nearly triples the deduction from £39 to £107 a month, because the £21,000 postgraduate threshold is far lower. Staff in Scotland on Plan 4 enjoy the highest threshold, so a Band 5 mid repays just £5.98 a month on the undergraduate loan.

These examples use basic pay only. Add unsocial-hours enhancements, London weighting or regular overtime and every figure rises, because those extras count as gross pay. To see the full take-home picture including pension and tax, work from your band's pay guide and then subtract the calculator's repayment figure.

Two loans at once

• Undergraduate + Postgraduate: you repay both simultaneously - 9% above the undergraduate threshold and 6% above the £21,000 postgraduate threshold, with no combined cap. The calculator's postgraduate checkbox models exactly this: tick it and you will see two separate repayment lines in the breakdown.
• Two undergraduate plans (for example Plan 1 and Plan 2): you pay a single 9% repayment calculated over the lower of the two thresholds. The repayment is then split between the loans, with a cap on how much goes to the lower-threshold loan. This calculator covers one undergraduate plan at a time, so if you hold two, use the plan with the lowest threshold.

The two-undergraduate-plan situation is increasingly common: someone who did a nursing degree from 2012 (Plan 2) and later a postgraduate certificate (Postgraduate loan) has the simple case, but someone with an old Plan 1 loan plus a newer Plan 2 balance gets the single-repayment treatment. In every configuration, the principle is identical: the thresholds decide the deduction, never the balance.

Part-time staff and second jobs

Part-time pay often sits below the thresholds entirely, which is why so many part-time NHS staff pay nothing. A Band 5 at the top of the band (£39,043) working 0.6 WTE earns £23,425.80 - below every plan threshold, so the monthly repayment is £0 even on Plan 5. Drop to 0.7 WTE (£27,330.10) and a Plan 5 repayer starts owing (27,330.10 − 25,000) × 9% ÷ 12 ≈ £17.49 a month, while a Plan 2 colleague on the same hours still pays nothing. Use our part-time pay calculator to find your exact pro-rata salary, then enter it here.

Second jobs complicate the picture. Because each payroll assesses its own pay against the threshold, a full-time Band 5 on Plan 2 (£32,073, already repaying) who picks up bank shifts gets deductions from both payrolls, each worked out separately. Conversely, someone with two part-time jobs each below the threshold pays nothing from either, even if the combined income would have crossed it. This per-job rule is confirmed on GOV.UK, and it means two incomes are not pooled before the threshold test.

Tax codes can look odd when you hold two jobs - one job may sit on a BR code - but the student loan deduction follows its own threshold rules regardless of your tax code. For the tax side, see our NHS tax code guide.

Common mistakes

• Wrong plan on the payroll record - especially Plan 1 vs Plan 2 for 2012 starters, or Plan 4 for staff who trained in Scotland. Check your first payslip in every new job.
• Using last year's threshold - thresholds move each tax year. Plan 2's threshold was £28,470 for 2025/26 and £29,385 for 2026/27; using the old figure overstates the repayment. This calculator uses the current 2026/27 figures.
• Assuming no repayment because the annual salary is below the threshold - the monthly test means overtime-heavy months still deduct. Keep the end-of-year refund option in mind.
• Thinking it reduces taxable income - it does not. It is deducted after tax and National Insurance, as the payslip guide shows.
• Ignoring the postgraduate loan - the extra 6% above £21,000 is the biggest surprise on senior-band payslips, and it applies from the first pound over the threshold.
• Forgetting the loan balance is irrelevant - the deduction is purely income-based. Voluntary overpayments rarely make sense at typical NHS salaries, because Plan 2 loans are written off after 30 years and Plan 5 after 40 years whether or not the balance is cleared.

Student loan sits alongside your other payslip deductions - income tax, National Insurance and NHS pension contributions - in deciding your take-home pay. For the full 2026/27 picture, start with your band pay guide or the pay bands overview.