Estimate how Student Loan Plan 1 repayments affect UK take-home pay alongside tax, NI, pension, and salary.
Your plan decides the salary your repayments start above, and it is set by where and when you began your course rather than being a choice. Plan 1 repayments start at a lower salary than Plan 2 or Plan 4. Above the threshold a fixed percentage of the excess is taken through payroll, so the deduction follows your pay and not the size of the balance.
The repayment is a percentage of what you earn above the Plan 1 threshold. Change the salary to see it move.
Of £32,000.00 gross a year: Income Tax £3,886.00, National Insurance £1,554.40, Student loan £459.00, Take-home £26,100.60.
Student loan repayments take £459.00 a year, which is £38.25 a month. Repayments are a percentage of what you earn above the plan's threshold, not of your whole salary.
Saving £110 a month — about 5% of this take-home — becomes £7,279.69 in five years at an example 4%: try the savings calculator.
2026/27 rates, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Plan 1 student loan. Open the full calculator to change region or pension method.
Payslip showing different figures? The payslip checker works out what your pay and tax code should have produced and shows which assumption could explain the gap.
| Tax/source year | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Region | England/Wales/Northern Ireland |
| Tax code basis | 1257L where the page uses PAYE defaults |
| Pension basis | No pension deduction unless this example says otherwise |
| Student loan basis | No student loan unless selected in this example |
| Gross pay | Employment pay before PAYE deductions and pension or loan settings. |
|---|---|
| Income Tax | Tax estimated from the selected tax-year, region, tax code and taxable-pay assumptions. |
| National Insurance | Employee NI is calculated separately from Income Tax and may not follow the same bands. |
| Pension and loans | Pension method and student-loan plan can change take-home pay and payslip comparisons. |
| Pension contribution | Changing the rate or method can change taxable income, National Insurance and take-home pay. |
|---|---|
| Tax code and region | Scottish Income Tax, Welsh codes, emergency tax or a non-standard tax code can move the result. |
| Student loan plan | A different plan can change deductions because each plan uses its own threshold and repayment rate. |
| Bonus, overtime or second job | Extra pay and payroll timing can make a real payslip differ from the smooth annual estimate. |
| Tax code | HMRC tax-code changes, K codes, BR/D codes, or emergency markers can change PAYE deductions. |
|---|---|
| Cumulative basis | Week 1, Month 1 or non-cumulative payroll can differ from a smooth annual calculator estimate. |
| Pension method | Relief at source, net pay and salary sacrifice can affect taxable pay and take-home pay differently. |
| Payroll timing | Bonus, overtime, arrears, refunds, cut-off dates and corrections can all move a single payslip. |
| Why is the tax on my payslip higher than expected? | payslip difference |
|---|---|
| What do the main payslip lines mean? | payslip explainer |
| What tax code should I use for modelling? | tax code |
| How much does pension reduce take-home pay? | pension comparison |
| How does this affect a monthly budget? | budget planning |
| What is not decided here | PayBreakdown does not decide payroll correctness, lender approval, benefit entitlement or employer compliance, and does not give regulated financial, mortgage, debt, tax, payroll or legal advice. |
|---|
The figures on this page are worked from plan 1 loan, using the values below. Open the calculator if your example salary differs.
This estimate is worked out on £32,000 annual gross. Interest rate, term, fees, deposit and the credit commitments you already have all move the result, and a lender applies its own affordability policy and credit checks on top. Treat the number as a way to see whether a repayment looks comfortable or stretched, not as an offer — and read it against your real bills, savings and any income change you expect. See how each deduction is worked out.
It starts from the question on this page, shows the useful salary assumptions, and opens PayBreakdown's calculator so gross pay, take-home pay, tax, National Insurance, pension, student loan, region, and tax-code settings can be adjusted.
Yes. Open the calculator from this page to change salary, hours, pension, student loan, tax year, region, tax code, bonus, and other pay settings.
Last updated 2026-08-27. Checked by Sean Elsmore. Rates last checked against GOV.UK on 2026-08-07. Estimates are for planning and should be checked against official records where the decision matters.