What a newly qualified nurse repays
At the bottom of Band 5 in England (£32,073), a nurse on Plan 2 repays £20 a month. On Plan 5, the plan for English courses started from August 2023, the same pay costs £53, because Plan 5's threshold is £25,000 against Plan 2's £29,385. Moving up to the bottom of Band 6 (£39,959) takes Plan 2 to £79 a month.
Plan 5 repayments start in the April after you leave your course, so someone who started a three-year course in September 2023 and qualified in 2026 pays nothing until April 2027.
Your plan depends on who funded you, not where you work
- Plan 1: Student Finance Northern Ireland (any course), or England and Wales courses started before 1 September 2012. Threshold £26,900.
- Plan 2: England courses started 1 September 2012 to 31 July 2023, and Wales courses from 1 September 2012. Threshold £29,385.
- Plan 4: Student Awards Agency Scotland, undergraduate or postgraduate. Threshold £33,795.
- Plan 5: England courses started on or after 1 August 2023. Threshold £25,000.
- Postgraduate Loan: master's or doctoral courses funded in England or Wales. 6% above £21,000.
So a nurse who trained in Scotland and works in Leeds stays on Plan 4. If you're not sure, your online Student Loans Company account has an "active plan type letter"; check it matches what your payroll uses.
Overtime and unsocial hours push it up that month
Payroll works out the deduction on each month's pay before tax and other deductions, so a month with extra shifts or bank holidays costs more. On the bottom of Band 5 with Plan 2, an extra £300 of pay in a month lifts the deduction from £20 to £47. Your NHS pension contribution doesn't lower it. If your whole year's pay ends up under the threshold, you can claim the difference back.
Two plans means one deduction
If you have, say, a Plan 1 and a Plan 2 loan, you don't pay twice. You pay 9% of pay over the lower of your thresholds, and the Student Loans Company splits it between the loans. A Postgraduate Loan is different: its 6% is taken on top of any undergraduate repayment.
Bank shifts are counted separately
Repayments are worked out job by job, not on combined pay. Bank work paid by a different employer only triggers a repayment if that job's own pay goes over the threshold.