Teachers: claim back your student loan repayments

Claims for the 2022 to 2023 financial year

Between 25 September 2023 and 31 March 2024,2024 you cancould claim back repayments if you:

• taught biology, chemistry, physics, computing or languages during the 2022 to 2023 financial year (6 April 2022 to 5 April 2023)
• taught at a school in an eligible local authority during the 2022 to 2023 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

What you need to make a claim

Before applying you need:

• the exact amount of student loan you repaid while employed as a teacher during the 2022 to 2023 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 (orin middle-deemedEngland, secondary school) in England. These include:either:

• a local authority-maintained schoolsschool
• academies,an freeacademy schools or multi-academyfree trustsschool
• a local authority-maintained or non-maintained special schoolsschool

This includes middle-deemed secondary schools.

You needneeded to be working as a teacher in a state-funded secondary school in England when you claimclaimed back your student loan repayments.

You must have either:

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

You must have completed your ITTinitial 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. YourSchools school 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
• NorthNorth-east 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 ITT.initial teacher training.

Academic year you completed your ITT	Financial years you can claim for
2013 to 2014	2022 to 2023 up to 2024 to 2025
2014 to 2015	2022 to 2023 up to 2025 to 2026
2015 to 2016	2022 to 2023 up to 2026 to 2027
2016 to 2017	2022 to 2023 up to 2027 to 2028
2017 to 2018	2022 to 2023 up to 2028 to 2029
2018 to 2019	2022 to 2023 up to 2029 to 2030
2019 to 2020	2022 to 2023 up to 2030 to 2031
2020 to 2021	2022 to 2023 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 Paypay Asas Youyou Earnearn (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.

TaxablePaying incomeIncome Tax and National Insurance

StudentThe student loan repayments are considered taxable income.

DfEThe Department for Education will pay Income Tax up to the basic rate and(currently Nationalincome Insuranceof for£12,571 theto payment£50,270, ontaxed yourat behalf.a The basic rate of tax20%) isfor currentlythe basedpayment on anyour annualbehalf.

If incomeyou ofbecome £12,571or toalready £50,270,are taxed at a higher rate oftaxpayer, 20%.

Youany willadditional needIncome toTax payand anyNational IncomeInsurance Taxcontributions for this payment over the higher rate through(currently PAYEincome ifof you£50,271 becometo or£125,140, alreadytaxed areat a higher rate taxpayer.of The40%) higherwill rateremain isyour currentlyresponsibility. anThe incomeDepartment offor £50,271Education is not liable to £125,140,reimburse taxedtax at athe ratehigher of 40%.rate.

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

The payment is not part of your salary from your employer. You, your employeremployer, 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 benefit, such as the High Income Child Benefit Charge or Marriage Allowance.payment.

Your payment, along with the Income Tax and National Insurance contributions paid on your behalf, will all count towards your income.

Number of payments

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

Contact

ForIf you have any queriesquestions about claimingthe backearly-career studentrepayments, loan repayments made while employed as a teacher, email studentloanteacherpayment@digital.education.gov.uk.