Plan 2 vs Plan 5: what's actually different?
If you started an English undergraduate course around 2023 it’s easy to assume Plan 2 and Plan 5 are close cousins. They share a repayment rate, but the other terms differ in ways that change what you’ll pay over a career.
Who is on which
- Plan 2: English undergraduates who started between September 2012 and July 2023, and Welsh undergraduates who started on or after September 2012.
- Plan 5: English undergraduates who started on or after 1 August 2023. Plan 5 applies to England only.
Not sure which you have? See which student loan plan am I on?
Side by side
| Plan 2 | Plan 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Repayment threshold | £29,385 | £25,000 |
| Repayment rate | 9% | 9% |
| Interest rate | 4.1% to 6%, by income | 4.1%, flat |
| Written off after | 30 years | 40 years |
What that means in practice
Plan 5 starts taking money sooner. Its threshold is lower, so you begin repaying at a lower salary and, at any given income, repay more each year than someone on Plan 2. See how much will I repay? for the numbers.
Plan 5 is charged less interest at higher incomes. Plan 2’s rate climbs with income; Plan 5’s doesn’t. For a high earner that can make Plan 5 cheaper per pound owed.
Plan 5 runs for longer. A 40 years write-off period against 30 years means more time for a balance to be repaid, and less chance of anything being cancelled unpaid.
Who tends to come out better
There’s no single answer, because it depends on your salary path:
- Lower and middle earners on Plan 5 are less likely to see a balance written off, so more of what they borrowed is likely to be repaid over time. On Plan 2 the write-off is closer and more of the balance is more likely to be cancelled.
- Higher earners repay in full on either plan. On Plan 2 they usually pay more interest along the way because of the sliding scale, while on Plan 5 the total tends to be closer to what they borrowed plus inflation.
These are patterns, not promises. Your own salary growth, career breaks and start date all change the result, which is why it’s worth running your own figures through the calculator rather than relying on a rule of thumb.
Why it matters for overpaying
Overpaying only makes sense when you’d otherwise repay the loan in full. That’s less common on Plan 2 for many people and more common on Plan 5, so the same salary can give different answers on the two plans. For the reasoning, see should I overpay my student loan?, and the plan-specific guides for Plan 2 and Plan 5.
Figures shown are those used on this site for 2026–27 and can change. Check gov.uk for the latest, and see the disclaimer.