Apply to claim back your repayments
Apply to claim back a student loan repayment. You need to apply before 31 May 2026.
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Claims for the 2024 to 2025 financial year
From 2 March 2026 to 31 May 2026, you can claim back repayments if you:
- taught biology, chemistry, physics, computing or languages during the 2024 to 2025 financial year (April 2024 to April 2025)
- taught at a school in an eligible local authority during the 2024 to 2025 financial year
- spent at least 50% of your contracted hours teaching one or more eligible subjects
- completed your initial teacher training (ITT) course between the 2013 to 2014 academic year and 2020 to 2021 academic year (1 September to 31 August), including those years
- are currently employed as a teacher at a state-funded secondary school in England
Your claim will be verified by DfE from April 2026 onwards.
Eligible teachers
For the reimbursement period, you must have been employed in a state-funded secondary school (or middle-deemed secondary school) in England. These include:
- local authority-maintained schools
- academies, free schools or multi-academy trusts
- local authority-maintained or non-maintained special schools
You need to be working as a teacher in a state-funded secondary school in England when you claim back your student loan repayments.
You must have either:
You must have completed your ITT in one of these academic years:
- 2013 to 2014
- 2014 to 2015
- 2015 to 2016
- 2016 to 2017
- 2017 to 2018
- 2018 to 2019
- 2019 to 2020
- 2020 to 2021
The academic year runs from 1 September to 31 August.
Eligible subjects
You must teach one or more of these subjects:
- biology
- chemistry
- computing
- languages
- physics
You must have spent at least 50% of your contracted hours teaching one or more of the eligible subjects during the year for which you are claiming. Your school may be asked to confirm this during the application process.
Eligible schools
The school you worked for when you originally made the repayments must be in one of these local authority areas:
- Barnsley
- Blackpool
- Bracknell Forest
- Bradford
- Cambridgeshire
- Derby
- Derbyshire
- Doncaster
- Halton
- Knowsley
- Luton
- Middlesbrough
- Norfolk
- North East Lincolnshire
- North Northamptonshire
- North Yorkshire
- Northumberland
- Oldham
- Peterborough
- Portsmouth
- Salford
- Sefton
- St Helens
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Suffolk
- West Northamptonshire
The years you can claim for
You can only claim back repayments you made in certain financial years, based on when you completed your ITT.
| Academic year you completed your ITT | Financial years you can claim for |
|---|---|
| 2013 to 2014 | 2024 to 2025 |
| 2014 to 2015 | 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 |
| 2015 to 2016 | 2024 to 2025 up to 2026 to 2027 |
| 2016 to 2017 | 2024 to 2025 up to 2027 to 2028 |
| 2017 to 2018 | 2024 to 2025 up to 2028 to 2029 |
| 2018 to 2019 | 2024 to 2025 up to 2029 to 2030 |
| 2019 to 2020 | 2024 to 2025 up to 2030 to 2031 |
| 2020 to 2021 | 2024 to 2025 up to 2031 to 2032 |
You’ll need to claim separately for each financial year.
Payment
The amount we pay you is based on the amount you repaid to the Student Loans Company through Pay As You Earn (PAYE) while employed as a teacher.
It is not possible to claim back any voluntary student loan repayments you made, or repayments made through any other jobs.
Student loan deduction
The payment is treated as pay, which means a student loan deduction may be made. If applicable, we will make this deduction automatically when we pay you.
Taxable income and National Insurance
Student loan repayments are considered taxable income.
DfE will pay Income Tax up to the basic rate and National Insurance for the payment on your behalf. The basic rate of tax is currently based on an annual income of £12,571 to £50,270, taxed at a rate of 20%.
You will need to pay any Income Tax over the higher rate through PAYE if you become or already are a higher rate taxpayer. The higher rate is currently an income of £50,271 to £125,140, taxed at a rate of 40%.
You can review the tax bands on Income Tax rates and personal allowances.
The payment is not part of your salary from your employer. You, your employer or the government will not contribute to your pension as part of this payment.
You should consider any other benefits or tax credits that could be affected if you claim this benefit, such as the High Income Child Benefit Charge or Marriage Allowance.
Your payment, along with the Income Tax and National Insurance contributions paid on your behalf, will all count towards your income.
Number of payments
You can only claim back your student loan repayments once in each academic year.
For any queries about claiming back student loan repayments made while employed as a teacher, email [email protected].
