PGLs for employers

Newsletter issue - December 2018

The Department for Education has launched a new Student Loan product known as Postgraduate Loans (PGLs). From April 2019, individuals will be able to start loan repayments of this type through PAYE, so employers need to be aware of their new obligations.

Broadly, if an individual has a PGL:

HMRC will send their employer a new Postgraduate start notice (PGL1) to ask them to start taking PGL deductions
HMRC will send their employer a new Postgraduate stop notice (PGL2) to ask them to stop taking PGL deductions
employers will collect payments through the normal PAYE process
individuals may also be liable to repay a Student Loan Plan Type 1 or 2 concurrently with PGL. HMRC will let their employer know this by continuing to send the normal Student Loan start (SL1) and Student Loan stop (SL2) notices as well as PGL1s and PGL2s.

HMRC are currently working with software developers to finalise the technical specifications for PGL repayment and hope to publish further guidance in due course.

It is also worth noting here that the earliest individuals can start repayment of PGL via Self-Assessment is April 2020.