UK Regional Student Loan Comparison Calculator
Compare student loan repayments across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to understand how your region affects what you pay.
For the full rules behind each nation's system, start with our England student loan system overview and its links to the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland pages.
Regional Differences
Each UK nation has different repayment thresholds, interest rates, and loan plans. This calculator helps you compare.
Different loan plans apply to different regions
See how repayments differ across all four UK nations
Outcome: written off
Wiped: £119,762 written off
On Plan 1 in England, you repay £2,323 of a £45,000 balance and £119,762 is written off in Apr 2046.
In today's money that is £2,410 repaid, deflated at 3.0% a year. The threshold used runs from £26,900 in the first repayment year to £39,188 in the last, with every announced freeze held still.
England loan plans, 2026/27
Plan 1
4.1% interestMonthly Payment
£23
9% above £26,900
Annual Payment
£279
Total Repaid
£2,323
Total Interest
£77,085
How this is worked out
(£30,000 − £26,900) × 9% ÷ 12 = £23.25
Plan 1, 2026/27 annual threshold. Your payslip is worked out against the monthly threshold, so a real deduction can differ by a pound or two.
Plan 2
6.0% interestMonthly Payment
£5
9% above £29,385
Annual Payment
£55
Total Repaid
£501
Total Interest
£224,194
How this is worked out
(£30,000 − £29,385) × 9% ÷ 12 = £4.61
Plan 2, 2026/27 annual threshold. Your payslip is worked out against the monthly threshold, so a real deduction can differ by a pound or two.
Plan 5
4.1% interestMonthly Payment
£38
9% above £25,000
Annual Payment
£450
Total Repaid
£4,613
Total Interest
£171,833
How this is worked out
(£30,000 − £25,000) × 9% ÷ 12 = £37.50
Plan 5, 2026/27 annual threshold. Your payslip is worked out against the monthly threshold, so a real deduction can differ by a pound or two.
Postgraduate
6.0% interestMonthly Payment
£45
6% above £21,000
Annual Payment
£540
Total Repaid
£8,121
Total Interest
£203,056
How this is worked out
(£30,000 − £21,000) × 6% ÷ 12 = £45.00
Postgraduate, 2026/27 annual threshold. Your payslip is worked out against the monthly threshold, so a real deduction can differ by a pound or two.
Rates, assumptions and sources
Every figure below is the 2026-27 published figure, read from this site's single source of truth at page-render time[source]. The 6% Plan 2 and Postgraduate interest cap covers the 2026/27 year only and is not assumed to continue[source].
| Plan | Threshold | Rate | Interest | Written off | Threshold freeze |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900[source] | 9% | 4.1%[source] | 25 years[source] | Uprated annually — no freeze announced |
| Plan 2 | £29,385[source] | 9% | 4.1% to 7.1% by income, capped at 6% for 2026-27[source] | 30 years[source] | Frozen at £29,385 until April 2030 |
| Plan 5 | £25,000[source] | 9% | 4.1%[source] | 40 years[source] | Frozen at £25,000 until April 2027 |
| Postgraduate Loan | £21,000[source] | 6% | 7.1%, capped at 6% for 2026-27[source] | 30 years[source] | Uprated annually — no freeze announced |
Write-off is counted from the April after the course ends, not from the course-end date itself, and the Plan 2 interest bands (£29,385 lower, £52,885 upper) are frozen alongside the Plan 2 repayment threshold.
This calculator also assumes
- Salary
- £30,000, held flat (no career growth)
- Balance today
- £45,000
- Graduation year
- 2020
- Repayments start
- April 2021, the April after the course ends
- Threshold uprating after any freeze
- 2.0% a year (assumption)
- Today's-money deflator
- 3.0% a year (assumption)
- Interest
- The current published rate for each plan, held for the whole projection
- Engine
- The tested simulateLoan() in src/lib/calculators/total-loan-cost.ts
Growth, inflation and long-run interest figures are assumptions, not published rates. Change them and the projection changes.
Regional loan plan overview, 2026/27
| Plan | Regions | Threshold (2026/27) | Rate | Write-Off | Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | England, Wales, Northern Ireland | £26,900[source]Uprated annually | 9% | 25 years[source] | 4.1%Lower of RPI or Bank of England base rate + 1% |
| Plan 2 | England, Wales | £29,385[source]Frozen until April 2030 | 9% | 30 years[source] | 6.0%RPI to RPI + 3% by income, capped at 6% |
| Plan 4 | Scotland | £33,795[source]Uprated annually | 9% | 30 years[source] | 4.1%Lower of RPI or Bank of England base rate + 1% |
| Plan 5 | England | £25,000[source]Frozen until April 2027 | 9% | 40 years[source] | 4.1%RPI only — no above-inflation margin, ever |
| Postgraduate | England, Wales | £21,000[source]Uprated annually | 6% | 30 years[source] | 6.0%RPI + 3%, capped at 6% |
The Postgraduate Loan (Plan 3) is an England and Wales product. Scottish and Northern Irish postgraduates borrow through SAAS and Student Finance NI instead, and repay on Plan 4 and Plan 1 terms, which is why they do not appear on the Plan 3 row above[source].
Every figure in this table is read from src/lib/constants/student-loans.ts when the page renders, not typed into the markup, so it moves with the constants each April. Interest rates are the 2026/27 figures, in force 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027[source].
Related Calculators
Understanding Regional Differences in UK Student Loans
Student loan repayment terms vary significantly across the UK, depending on which nation you studied in and when you started your course. This calculator helps you understand these regional differences and compare how much you would pay under different systems.
Want to explore individual loan plans?
Use our other calculators to get detailed repayment projections for each loan plan, including overpayment scenarios.