Teachers: claim back your student loan repayments

Apply to claim back your student loan repayments

You can claim from September 2022 if you:

• taught biology, chemistry, physics, computing or languages during the 2021 to 2022 financial year (6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022)
• taught at a school in an eligible local authority during the 2021 to 2022 financial year
• spent at least 50% of your contracted hours teaching one or more eligible subjects
• completed your initial teacher training (ITT) course between the 2013 to 2014 academic year and 2020 to 2021 academic year (1 September to 31 August), including those years
• are currently employed as a teacher at a state-funded secondary school in England

Start now

Before you apply

You’ll need:

• the exact amount of student loan you repaid while employed as a teacher during the 2021 to 2022 financial year. You can get this from:
  • logging into your student loan account and checking your balance
  • your P60 if you only had one employer
  • all your payslips from this period
• your National Insurance number
• your bank account details
• your 7-digit teacher reference number and the academic year in which you completed your initial teacher training - you can get these from:
  • your school
  • the certificate you got when you qualified
  • contacting the teacher qualifications helpdesk on 0207 593 5394 or qts.enquiries@education.gov.uk
  • the teacher self-service website

Eligible teachers

For the reimbursement period, you must have been employed in a state-funded secondary school in England, in either:

• a local authority-maintained school
• an academy or free school
• a local authority-maintained or non-maintained special school

This includes middle-deemed secondary schools.

You must still be working as a teacher in a state-funded secondary school in England when you claim back your student loan repayments.

You must have either:

• qualified teacher status
• qualified teacher learning and skills (QTLS) and membership of the Society for Education and Training (SET)

You must have completed your initial teacher training in one of these academic years:

• 2013 to 2014
• 2014 to 2015
• 2015 to 2016
• 2016 to 2017
• 2017 to 2018
• 2018 to 2019
• 2019 to 2020
• 2020 to 2021

The academic year runs from 1 September to 31 August.

Eligible subjects

You must teach one or more of these subjects:

• biology
• chemistry
• computing
• languages
• physics

You must have spent at least 50% of your contracted hours teaching one or more of the eligible subjects during the year for which you are claiming. Schools may be asked to confirm this during the application process.

Eligible schools

The school you worked for when you originally made the repayments must be in one of these local authority areas:

• Barnsley
• Blackpool
• Bracknell Forest
• Bradford
• Cambridgeshire
• Derby
• Derbyshire
• Doncaster
• Halton
• Knowsley
• Luton
• Middlesbrough
• Norfolk
• North-east Lincolnshire
• North Northamptonshire
• North Yorkshire
• Northumberland
• Oldham
• Peterborough
• Portsmouth
• Salford
• Sefton
• St Helens
• Stoke-on-Trent
• Suffolk
• West Northamptonshire

The years you can claim for

You can only claim back repayments you made in certain financial years, based on when you completed your initial teacher training.

Academic year you completed your ITT	Financial years you can claim for
2013 to 2014	2021 to 2022 up to 2024 to 2025
2014 to 2015	2021 to 2022 up to 2025 to 2026
2015 to 2016	2021 to 2022 up to 2026 to 2027
2016 to 2017	2021 to 2022 up to 2027 to 2028
2017 to 2018	2021 to 2022 up to 2028 to 2029
2018 to 2019	2021 to 2022 up to 2029 to 2030
2019 to 2020	2021 to 2022 up to 2030 to 2031
2020 to 2021	2021 to 2022 up to 2031 to 2032

You’ll need to claim separately for each financial year.

Payment

The amount we pay you is based on the amount you repaid to the Student Loans Company through pay as you earn (PAYE) while employed as a teacher.

It is not possible to claim back any voluntary student loan repayments you made, or repayments made through any other jobs.

Student loan deduction

The payment is treated as pay, which means a student loan deduction may be made. If applicable, we will make this deduction automatically when we pay you.

Paying Income Tax and National Insurance

The student loan repayments are considered taxable income.

The Department for Education will pay Income Tax up to the basic rate (currently income of £12,571 to £50,270, taxed at a rate of 20%) for the payment on your behalf.

If you become or already are a higher rate taxpayer, any additional Income Tax and National Insurance contributions for this payment over the higher rate (currently income of £50,271 to £150,000, taxed at a rate of 40%) will remain your responsibility. The Department for Education is not liable to reimburse tax at the higher rate.

You can review the updated tax bands on Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances.

The payment is not part of your salary from your employer. You, your employer, or the government will not contribute to your pension as part of this payment.

You should consider any other benefits or tax credits that could be affected if you claim this payment.

Number of payments

You can only claim back your student loan repayments once in each academic year.

Contact

If you have any questions about the early-career repayments, email studentloanteacherpayment@digital.education.gov.uk.