On 19 August 2025, the English Department for Education announced annual thresholds that will apply for Plans 1 and 5 for tax year 2026/27.
Whilst relaying this announcement, ICB warned members to be careful, not only because it comes so far ahead of the start of the new tax year but, also:
- It is primarily concerned about the interest rates to apply on Student Loan balances, and
- The Department for Education applies in England. Therefore, any threshold announced only applies to the Plans applying to English borrowers (Plan 5) plus the Northern Irish and Welsh borrowers that have been incorporated into Plan 1
To feed the information to members in the way it is drip-fed to the profession, we have another confirmed threshold, this time for Plan 4. However:
- Whilst it has been confirmed by HMRC at the Collection of Student Loans forum and is publicly available on websites such as the Money Saving Expert Forum, it has not been announced by the Scottish Government; plus
- There are five Income Contingent Student Loans we are concerned about so we still do not have the full picture
ICB conveys the threshold information for tax year 2026/27 as we know it at the time of writing:
|
Plan
|
Threshold 2025/26
|
Threshold 2026/27
|
|
1
|
£26,065
|
£26,900
|
|
2
|
£28,470
|
To be confirmed
|
|
3
|
£21,000
|
To be confirmed
|
|
4
|
£32,745
|
£33,795
|
|
5
|
N/A
|
£25,000
|
For Bookkeepers
You may see this information in other places and it is responsible for us to pass this onto you. We concede this information may be useful for some people way ahead of the start of the next tax year.
With regard the annual thresholds for Plans 2 and 3:
- Plan 2 is due to be confirmed shortly we understand; and
- There is no legislation to uprate Plan 3, therefore, this will be needed if it is to increase from £21,000
