When Is Your UK Student Loan Written Off?

Most UK graduates will never fully repay their student loan. That is not a failure of personal finance. It is how the income-contingent system was designed. At some point, the remaining balance is simply cancelled. The date that happens depends entirely on which repayment plan you are on, and for some plans, an age limit applies as well. Knowing your write-off date helps you decide whether voluntary overpayments make any sense at all.

This guide sets out the write-off rules for every UK student loan plan, including postgraduate loans, and explains what happens to the balance when the clock runs out. Use our UK student loan calculator to model whether you are on track to repay before write-off or likely to have debt cancelled.

Write-off dates by plan

The write-off clock starts from the first April after you graduate or leave your course, not from the day you received your first loan payment. If you graduated in July 2018, the write-off period began in April 2019. Each plan has a fixed number of years from that April, after which the outstanding balance is cancelled regardless of how much or how little you have repaid.

Plan 1: the shortest write-off window

Plan 1 loans are cancelled 25 years after the first April following graduation. A student who graduated in summer 2005 would have had their loan written off in April 2030. Plan 1 also has an age cap: if you reach 65 before the 25-year period ends, the loan is written off at age 65 instead. This matters for mature students who started university later in life.

Because Plan 1 interest rates are lower (typically RPI or base rate plus 1%) and the balances tend to be smaller (tuition fees were capped at £3,290 to £3,465 per year), a higher proportion of Plan 1 borrowers repay in full before write-off. If you are on Plan 1 and earning above £35,000 consistently, there is a reasonable chance you will clear the balance before cancellation.

Plan 2: 30 years and the balance that keeps growing

Plan 2 is the plan where write-off matters most. With 30 years until cancellation and interest rates that can reach RPI plus 3% (roughly 7% to 8% during high-inflation periods), many graduates see their balance increase year after year despite making regular repayments. A graduate who borrowed £45,000 and earns £30,000 to £40,000 for most of their career may repay £20,000 to £30,000 over 30 years and still have £30,000 or more written off.

A Plan 2 graduate from the class of 2017 will reach their write-off date in April 2047. If you are currently 30 and on Plan 2, your loan will be cancelled when you are roughly 52, assuming you do not clear it sooner. For higher earners above £50,000 who are making substantial monthly repayments, full repayment before write-off is possible, particularly if balances are below £40,000.

Run your own projection in our UK student loan calculator to see whether your expected career earnings path leads to full repayment or write-off.

Plan 4 and Plan 5 write-off rules

Scottish Plan 4 loans follow the same 30-year write-off as Plan 2, with the age 65 cap. The higher repayment threshold (£32,745 for 2025/26) means Scottish graduates repay less per month at the same salary, but the write-off date is the same 30-year window from the April after graduation.

Plan 5, introduced for English students from August 2023, extends the write-off to 40 years and removes the age 65 cap. A Plan 5 student graduating in 2026 will not see their loan cancelled until April 2066 at the earliest. The lower interest rate (RPI only, no income-based uplift) means balances grow more slowly, and the lower threshold (£25,000) means repayments start sooner. The government expects a higher full-repayment rate under Plan 5 because of these combined factors, despite the longer window.

Example write-off dates by graduation year

• Graduated 2010 (Plan 1): written off April 2035
• Graduated 2018 (Plan 2): written off April 2048
• Graduated 2022 (Plan 4 Scotland): written off April 2052
• Graduated 2026 (Plan 5): written off April 2066
• Postgraduate 2020: written off April 2050

What happens when the loan is written off

When the write-off date arrives, the Student Loans Company cancels the remaining balance. You receive a letter confirming the loan is closed. No further repayments are taken from your payslip from that point. The written-off amount is not treated as taxable income. You do not receive a bill or a tax charge on the cancelled debt. It simply disappears.

If you are still employed when write-off occurs, tell your employer or check that the SL deduction has been removed from your payroll. Occasionally, deductions continue for a month or two after write-off because HMRC's systems have not yet updated. Contact the SLC with your write-off confirmation letter and they will liaise with HMRC to stop further deductions. Any overpayments after write-off are refunded.

Death and disability

Student loans are cancelled if the borrower dies. The SLC requires a death certificate or notification from an executor, and the balance is written off in full. Loans are also cancelled if the borrower becomes permanently unfit for work and receives a qualifying disability benefit. These provisions exist across all plans and are one reason some financial advisers argue against prioritising student loan overpayments over pension contributions or emergency savings.

Should you overpay before write-off?

For most Plan 2 graduates earning under £50,000, voluntary overpayments are financially inefficient. You are paying money towards a balance that will be cancelled anyway. The exception is high earners on track to clear the loan well before write-off, where overpayments reduce total interest paid. On Plan 5, the 40-year window and lower interest make full repayment more likely, so overpayments may make more sense for above-average earners.

Before making voluntary payments, check your plan, balance and projected earnings using our UK student loan calculator. Factor the ongoing deduction into your budget with our UK salary calculator. For the underlying plan rules, see our guide to UK student loan repayment plans.

The write-off date is the finish line that most graduates will reach. Knowing when that is for your plan turns an anxiety-inducing balance into a manageable monthly deduction with a defined endpoint. Check your SLC account, note your write-off year, and plan your finances around the repayment period rather than the headline balance.

Tracking your balance and write-off date

Log into your account at gov.uk/manage-your-student-loan-balance to see your current balance, plan type, and repayment history. The SLC sends an annual statement each April showing interest added and repayments received. Your write-off date is not always shown explicitly, but you can calculate it from your graduation year using the rules above. If you graduated in 2019 on Plan 2, your loan wipes in April 2049.

The balance on your statement can be alarming, especially on Plan 2 where interest sometimes outpaces repayments. Remember that the balance is not a bill. It is an accounting figure that tracks how much would be owed if you continued repaying at your current rate until the debt was cleared. For most graduates, the write-off date arrives long before the balance reaches zero. Focus on the monthly deduction and the write-off year, not the total outstanding.

Impact on mortgage and borrowing applications

Student loan repayments reduce your net income, which affects mortgage affordability assessments. Lenders look at your payslip deductions when calculating how much you can borrow. A graduate earning £40,000 with a £96 per month Plan 2 deduction has less disposable income than one earning the same salary without a loan. The effect is usually modest, reducing borrowing capacity by roughly £10,000 to £15,000 on a typical application, but it is worth modelling before you apply.

Student loans do not appear on your credit file and do not affect your credit score. Lenders cannot see the balance, only the monthly deduction on your payslips and bank statements. If you are saving for a deposit, factor your student loan repayment into your monthly budget alongside rent and other commitments. Our mortgage affordability calculator helps you see how loan deductions affect your borrowing capacity.

The write-off is automatic. You do not need to apply or request cancellation. The SLC closes the account and sends confirmation. Keep that letter for your records and check your final payslip shows no further SL deductions. If you are approaching write-off and considering a large voluntary overpayment, pause and run the numbers first. Once the loan is cancelled, any overpayment made in the final months cannot be reclaimed. For most graduates, the simplest approach is to keep paying through PAYE until the balance disappears on its own.