Postgraduate loan repayments

A Postgraduate Loan is repaid at 6% of everything you earn over £21,000 a year in 2026/27. Payroll applies this as £1,750 a month or £403.84 a week. If you also have an undergraduate loan on Plan 1, 2, 4 or 5, the Postgraduate Loan deduction is taken on top of it, so you can see two student loan lines on one payslip. Interest was 6% on gov.uk at the time of checking.

Who has a Postgraduate Loan

The Postgraduate Loan covers master’s loans and doctoral loans for students from England and Wales. People who took a funded master’s to move into a new profession, such as an MSc in a health subject or a social work master’s, often have one. So do people who did a doctorate before moving into the NHS, the Civil Service or higher education.

Scottish postgraduate funding from SAAS is repaid as part of Plan 4, not as a separate Postgraduate Loan. Students from Northern Ireland also have different arrangements. Your Student Loans Company account shows exactly which loans you hold and how each is repaid.

How the deduction works

Payroll takes your gross pay for the period, subtracts £1,750 (monthly) or £403.84 (weekly) and takes 6% of the rest. Like other student loan deductions, it is worked out on each payday separately. A month with overtime or back pay produces a bigger deduction; a month with low pay may produce none.

Because the threshold is lower than any undergraduate plan, the Postgraduate Loan often starts before your undergraduate deduction does. Someone on £24,000 with Plan 2 and a Postgraduate Loan pays nothing on Plan 2 but 6% of £3,000 (£180 a year) on the Postgraduate Loan.

Worked examples

All figures are full-time 2026/27 salaries in England with steady monthly pay.

Salary	Example post	Postgraduate Loan (6% over £21,000)	Plan 2 (9% over £29,385)	Total a year
£32,073	NHS band 5 entry	£664.38	£241.92	£906.30
£39,959	NHS band 6 entry	£1,137.54	£951.66	£2,089.20
£49,387	NHS band 7 entry	£1,703.22	£1,800.18	£3,503.40

On band 7 entry, that is about £292 a month in student loan deductions alone. If your undergraduate loan is on Plan 1 or Plan 5, the second column will be higher because those thresholds are lower. With Plan 4, it will be lower. Student loan repayments from salary has the thresholds for each.

Clinical psychology, physician associate and some advanced practice routes involve postgraduate study, so staff in these roles are more likely to carry both loans. See how to become a clinical psychologist.

The combined rate on extra pay

For a basic-rate taxpayer in England with Plan 2 and a Postgraduate Loan, each extra pound above £29,385 loses 20p to income tax, 8p to National Insurance, 9p to Plan 2 and 6p to the Postgraduate Loan. That leaves 57p before pension contributions. A higher-rate taxpayer above £50,270 keeps 43p (40% tax, 2% NI, 9% and 6% loans).

Scottish taxpayers in the 42% higher band, between £43,663 and £50,270, keep only 35p of each extra pound with Plan 4 and a Postgraduate Loan from England or Wales. That combination is uncommon, but it does happen. The take-home pay calculator can show the effect for your own pay.

Pensions and salary sacrifice

NHS, teachers’, local government and Civil Service pension contributions do not reduce the pay used for student loan calculations. Under a net pay arrangement they come off before income tax, but student loan deductions are worked out on your gross pay. Salary sacrifice schemes reduce your contractual pay, so they reduce both loan deductions.

Interest and write-off

Interest is added to your balance and has no effect on what comes out of your pay. The Postgraduate Loan rate was 6% at the time of checking. Rates change during the year, so check the current figure on gov.uk.

Postgraduate Loans are written off after a set number of years, or on death or permanent disability. The rule for your loan is in the Student Loans Company terms and conditions on gov.uk.

Checking your payslip

Look for two separate lines, often labelled “SL” or “Student Loan” with the plan and “PGL” or “Postgraduate Loan”. If you have a Postgraduate Loan but only one line appears, payroll may not have been told. Deductions will then be collected later, sometimes as a direct request from the Student Loans Company. If the Postgraduate Loan line shows 9% instead of 6%, or uses the wrong threshold, tell payroll straight away.

If you finish the tax year with income below £21,000, you can ask the Student Loans Company for a refund of any Postgraduate Loan repayments taken in higher-paid months. How to read your payslip shows where student loan deductions appear.