Guidance

Overseas earnings thresholds for Plan 4 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 Scotland

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Details

This guide applies to Plan 4 customers. You’re a Plan 4 customer if you’re:you got funding from Student Awards Agency Scotland.

You can also find out the overseas repayment thresholds for Plan 1Plan 2, and Postgraduate Loan repayments. Check out which repayment plan you’re on.

  • a

    How Scottishthe studentoverseas whorepayment startedthresholds anare undergraduateset oreach postgraduateyear

    Overseas coursethresholds anywhereare based on living costs in each individual country. This is why the UKrepayment onthreshold oris afternot 1always Septemberthe 1998

  • ansame EUas studentit whois startedfor anthose undergraduatein coursethe UK.

    The Price Level Index (PLI) is used to measure the differences in Scotlandthe ongeneral orprice afterlevels 1for Septembereach 1998

country, for example, the costs of food, housing, and transport, to allow a comparable threshold to be set.

YouThe repayment thresholds for each country are set once a year on 6 April.  Changes to this can alsoaffect findhow 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 overseasexchange earningrate thresholdsused foreach Planyear

The 1,exchange Planrate 2we anduse Postgraduateto Loanconvert 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 4” 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 is4, 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 £25,120.

This is thetaken amountaway youfrom couldyour payannual eachearnings:

£28,708.11 month- £25,120 = £3,588.11

You repay 9% of this figure (£3,588.11 x 0.09) which is £322.92.

This is divided into 12 monthly payments of £26.91 (rounded down to £26).

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. 

  • theIf annualyou UKdon’t earningsupdate thresholdus, duringthen the period

  • Worldfixed Bankmonthly data,repayment whichshown measuresfor the differencescountry you’re living in generalwill pricebe levelsexpected betweenevery countriesmonth.

  • theIf exchangerepayments rates,aren’t calculatedmade asthen an averageoverdue ratebalance forwill thebuild previousup UKon calendaryour year.account

Published 6 April 2021
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 thresholds HTMLs have been updated for the 2022-23 tax year.

  4. Updated to highlight oversears thresholds for students to self identify

  5. Corrected threshold information for the Channel Islands

  6. Added translation