Overseas earnings thresholds for Plan 4 student loans
You'll only make repayments to your student loan when you earn more than the repayment threshold amount. There are different repayment thresholds for different countries.
Applies to Scotland
Documents
Details
This guide applies to Plan 4 customers. You鈥檙e a Plan 4 customer if you got funding from Student Awards Agency Scotland.
You can also find out the overseas repayment thresholds for Plan 1,听Plan 2,听and聽Postgraduate Loan聽repayments. Check out which repayment plan you鈥檙e on.
How the overseas repayment thresholds are set each year
Overseas thresholds are based on living costs in each individual country. This is why the repayment threshold is not always the same as it is for those in the UK.
The Price Level Index (PLI) is used to measure the differences in the general price levels for each country, for example, the costs of food, housing, and transport, to allow a comparable threshold to be set.
The repayment thresholds for each country are set once a year on 6 April.聽 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 for the most recent calendar year published by HMRC.
These are reviewed every year on 6 April. They won鈥檛 show any month-to-month rate changes.
How we calculate your gross annual salary using your payslips
If you鈥檙e paid monthly, we鈥檒l use your income from your last three months鈥� payslips to calculate your average monthly salary. Then we multiply this by 12 months to total your gross annual salary.
贰虫补尘辫濒别:听
| Month 1 income | 拢2,500 |
| Month 2 income | 拢3,000 |
| Month 3 income | 拢2,750 |
拢2,500 + 拢3,000 + 拢2,750 = 拢8,250
拢8,250 / 3 = 拢2,750 average monthly salary
拢2,750 x 12 months = 拢33,000 gross annual salary
If you鈥檙e paid weekly, we鈥檒l use the average income from your last 12 weeks鈥� payslips and multiply this by 52 weeks to work out your gross annual salary.
If you鈥檙e paid bi-weekly or fortnightly, we鈥檒l use the average income from your last 6 weeks鈥� 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 added to your annual income after it鈥檚 been calculated
- regularly received will be included in the calculation of your annual income.
Superannuation
Superannuation payments won鈥檛 be included when we work out your monthly repayment amount.
If you鈥檙e paid more than 12 times a year
In some countries employees are paid more than 12 times a year.聽
Where this happens, we鈥檒l use the income from your last three months鈥� payslips to work out your average monthly salary.聽 This will then be multiplied by the number of pay periods in a full year to calculate your gross annual salary.聽聽
How we calculate your repayment schedule
We use the 鈥渙verseas repayment threshold for Plan 4鈥� table to calculate your repayment amount, by using the following steps:
- We鈥檒l convert your gross annual salary to GBP by using the exchange rate for the country you鈥檙e living in.
- Then we鈥檒l take away the 鈥渞epayment threshold (GBP)鈥� for that country from your annual salary.
- You鈥檒l repay 9% of the amount left over. This is split over 12 months to give you your monthly repayment amount.
For example:
You鈥檙e on Plan 4, living in Spain and have an income of 鈧�33,000 a year.
Your salary is converted to GBP using the exchange rate for Spain which is 0.869943:
鈧�33,000 x 0.869943 = 拢28,708.11.
The repayment threshold for Spain is 拢25,120.
This is taken away from your annual earnings:
拢28,708.11 - 拢25,120 = 拢3,588.11
You repay 9% of this figure (拢3,588.11 x 0.09) which is 拢322.92.
This is divided into 12 monthly payments of 拢26.91 (rounded down to 拢26).
Keep your employment details up to date if you鈥檙e going overseas
If you鈥檙e overseas for more than three months, you need to give us information on how you鈥檙e supporting yourself financially. You can update your employment details online, even to let us know that you鈥檙e unemployed. The online service will tell you exactly what information we need from you.
This allows us to determine if you鈥檙e due to start making repayments. If you are due to start repaying, we鈥檒l give you an accurate repayment plan based on your earnings or defer your repayments for 12 months if you鈥檙e earning under the threshold.聽
If you don鈥檛 update us, then the fixed monthly repayment shown for the country you鈥檙e living in will be expected every month.
If repayments aren鈥檛 made then an overdue balance will build up on your account
Updates to this page
-
Corrections have been made to some thresholds
-
Corrections have been made to some countries' thresholds
-
Information has been updated for the 2024-25 tax year
-
Thresholds have been updated for the 2023-24 tax year
-
Overseas earnings thresholds HTMLs have been updated for the 2022-23 tax year.
-
Updated to highlight oversears thresholds for students to self identify
-
Corrected threshold information for the Channel Islands
-
Added translation