Student loan repayments for teachers

Overview

Student loan repayments for teachers is welcome to those who teach in particular subjects. You may have seen news reports over the recent years that some teachers are eligible to claim back student loan repayments. This is an initiative launched by the government to improve teacher retention rates in certain subjects.

It is worth bearing in mind that the eligibility criteria is relatively quite narrow depending on the subject taught, local authority taught in and when you completed your initial teaching training course.

In this article, we look at the eligibility criteria, the information you need before applying and how GOV.UK will process your student loan repayments claim.

Am I eligible for student loan repayments?

The GOV.UK website explains you can claim for student loan repayments from September 2021 if you:

• Taught biology, chemistry, physics, computer science or languages during the 2020 to 2021 financial year (6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021)
• Taught at a school in an eligible local authority during the 2020 to 2021 financial year – check which places are eligible
• Are currently employed as a teacher at a state-funded secondary school in England
• Spent at least 50% of your contracted hours teaching one or more eligible subjects
• Completed your initial teacher training course in or after the 2013 to 2014 academic year (1 September to 31 August)

Before you apply for student loan repayments

You will need:

• The exact amount of student loan you repaid while employed as a teacher during the 2020/21 financial year (get this from your annual student loan statement, your P60 if you only had one employer, or all you payslips from this period)
• Your National Insurance Number
• Your bank account details
• Your 7-digit teacher reference number – you can get this from your school, the certificate you got when you qualified, or from the teacher qualifications helpdesk. We have also published another article explaining how you can use your teacher reference number to access your teaching qualifications online.
• The date you completed your initial teacher training
• Sign-in details for Verify – the government’s secure way of proving who you are, if you do not have a Verify account, you’ll need your passport or photocard driving licence to sign up

Processing the student loan repayment claim

To process the claim GOV.UK will check the information in your application with:

• The school you are currently employed to teach at
• The Department for Education’s database of qualified teachers
• The Teachers’ Pension Service

Your claim payment is taxable. GOV.UK will send some of your personal information to HMRC to ensure the following contributions are met:

• Income Tax and Employee National Insurance (NIC), which the government pay on your behalf
• Student loan repayment, which is deducted from your claim payment and credited to your Student Loans Account, if applicable

GOV.UK will send you a breakdown of these payments when we process your claim.

If you have questions about your pay and conditions in school you can contact us for further support and advice.