Guidance

Overseas earnings thresholds for Plan 2 student loans

You'll only startmake repayingrepayments to your student loan when you earn more than the minimumrepayment threshold amount. There are different earningsrepayment thresholds for foreigndifferent countries.

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

Details

This guide applies to Plan 2 customers. You’re a Plan 2 customer if you’re:you got funding from:

  • anStudent EnglishFinance orEngland Welshbetween student1 (orSeptember an2012 EUand student31 whoJuly studied2023
  • Student inFinance EnglandWales on or Wales)after who1 tookSeptember 2012

You can also find out athe loanoverseas onrepayment orthresholds afterfor Plan 1Plan September4 and Postgraduate 2012

  • anLoan repayments. EUCheck studentout whowhich startedrepayment anplan undergraduateyou’re courseon.

  • How anywherethe inoverseas Englandrepayment orthresholds Walesare set each year

    Overseas thresholds are based on orliving aftercosts 1in Septembereach 2012

  • someoneindividual whocountry. tookThis outis anwhy Advancedthe Learnerrepayment Loanthreshold onis ornot afteralways 1the Augustsame 2013
  • as it is for those in the UK.

    YouThe canPrice alsoLevel findIndex out(PLI) is used to measure the overseasdifferences earningin thresholdsthe general price levels for Planeach 1,country, Planfor 4example, the costs of food, housing, and Postgraduatetransport, Loanto allow a comparable threshold to be set.

    The repayment thresholds for each country are set once a year on 6 April.  Changes to this can affect how much you need to repay even if your income has remained the same.

    The PLI information is taken from the most recent year published by the World Bank.

    How we work out the exchange rate used each year

    The exchange rate we use to convert your salary to GBP is based on the average currency exchange rates repayments.for the most recent calendar year published by HMRC.

    These are reviewed every year on 6 April. They won’t show any month-to-month rate changes.

    How we calculate your gross annual salary using your payslips

    If you’re unsure,paid youmonthly, canwe’ll checkuse whichyour repaymentincome planfrom you’reyour on.last three months’ payslips to calculate your average monthly salary. Then we multiply this by 12 months to total your gross annual salary.

    Example: 

    Month 1 income£2,500
    Month 2 income£3,000
    Month 3 income£2,750

    £2,500 + £3,000 + £2,750 = £8,250

    £8,250 / 3 = £2,750 average monthly salary

    £2,750 x 12 months = £33,000 gross annual salary

    If youyou’re livepaid abroadweekly, orwe’ll use the average income from your last 12 weeks’ payslips and multiply this by 52 weeks to work forout ayour foreigngross employer,annual salary.

    If you’re paid bi-weekly or fortnightly, we’ll use the minimumaverage amountincome youfrom mustyour earnlast may6 weeks’ payslips and multiply this by 24 weeks (for bi-weekly pay) or 26 weeks (for fortnightly pay) to work out your gross annual salary.

    Bonuses and overtime

    Any bonuses, overtime, commission and allowances that are:

    • one off payments will be differentadded fromto your annual income after it’s been calculated
    • regularly received will be included in the UK.

      calculation of your annual income.

    Superannuation

    EarningsSuperannuation thresholdspayments forwon’t foreignbe included when we work out your monthly repayment amount.

    If you’re paid more than 12 times a year

    In some countries employees are setpaid eachmore year.than They12 describetimes a year. 

    Where this happens, we’ll use the minimumincome amountfrom youyour mustlast earnthree months’ payslips to work out your average monthly salary.  This will then be multiplied by the number of pay periods in a countryfull beforeyear you’llto startcalculate toyour repay.gross annual salary.  

    How we calculate your repayment schedule

    TheWe thresholdsuse takethe account“overseas ofrepayment differencesthreshold infor Plan 2” table to calculate your repayment amount, by using the following steps:

    1. We’ll convert your gross annual salary to GBP by using the exchange rate for the country you’re living costsin.
    2. Then we’ll take away the “repayment threshold (GBP)” for that country from your annual salary.
    3. You’ll repay 9% of the UK.amount Theleft exchangeover. ratesThis usedis split over 12 months to calculategive theyou thresholdsyour aremonthly alsorepayment provided.

      amount.

    For eachexample:

    You’re country,on therePlan is2, living in Spain and have an income of €33,000 a fixedyear.

    Your monthlysalary is converted to GBP using the exchange rate for Spain which is 0.869943:

    €33,000 x 0.869943 = £28,708.11.

    The repayment amount.threshold for Spain is £21,840.

    This is thetaken amountaway youfrom couldyour payannual eachearnings:

    £28,708.11 month- £21,840 = £6,868.11

    You repay 9% of this figure (£6,868.11 x 0.09) which is £618.12.

    This is divided into 12 monthly payments of £51.51 (rounded down to £51).

    Keep your employment details up to date if you’re going overseas

    If you’re overseas for more than three months, you doneed notto letgive Studentus Loansinformation Companyon knowhow aboutyou’re supporting yourself financially. You can update your income.employment details online, even to let us know that you’re unemployed. The online service will tell you exactly what information we need from you.

    OverseasThis earningsallows thresholdsus forto studentdetermine loanif repaymentyou’re due to start making repayments. If you are due to start repaying, we’ll give you an accurate repayment plan based on:on your earnings or defer your repayments for 12 months if you’re earning under the threshold. 

    • If you don’t update us, then the annualfixed UKmonthly earningsrepayment thresholdshown duringfor the period.country you’re living in will be expected every month and you may be charged the highest rate of interest on your loan balance.

    • WorldIf Bankrepayments data,aren’t whichmade measuresthen thean differencesoverdue inbalance generalwill pricebuild levelsup betweenon countriesyour account.

    • We use the exchangelower rates,earnings calculatedthreshold asto anwork averageout ratehow formuch you’ll repay. We normally use the previouslower UKearnings calendarthreshold year.and the upper earnings threshold to work out how much interest to apply to your balance (RPI plus up to 3%).  However, due to the interest rate cap being lower than RPI, this is not being used currently.

    Published 6 April 2018
    Last updated 6 April 20232024 + show all updates
    1. Information has been updated for the 2024-25 tax year

    2. Thresholds have been updated for the 2023-24 tax year

    3. Overseas earnings threshold HTMLs have been updated for the 2022-23 tax year

    4. More information to let foreign students self identify their plan type.

    5. Updated the HTML attachments (English and Welsh) in line with the new overseas thresholds coming in for 2021/22 tax year

    6. Updated threshold amounts for 2020-21

    7. Added Welsh language translation.