Enter what went into your pensions in 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 to see how much you can pay in during 2026/27.
The annual allowance is £60,000 for 2026/27, and it was £60,000 in each of 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26. Allowance you did not use in any of those three years can be carried forward and added to this year's.
This year's allowance is used first, then unused allowance from the earliest year. You can only carry forward from a year in which you were a member of a registered pension scheme. Where a year's payments went over its own allowance, the excess is set against the earlier years shown.
Tax relief on your own contributions is limited to 100% of your relevant UK earnings for the year, or £3,600 if that is more. An employer's contributions have no set limit on relief tied to your earnings, and the company's deduction is subject to the wholly and exclusively test. Figures checked on gov.uk on 26 October 2026. The Budget on 28 October 2026 can change them.
The tapered annual allowance, which reduces the allowance on higher incomes, and the money purchase annual allowance, which applies once you have taken taxable cash from a pension, are not modelled here. Nor is unused allowance from before 6 April 2023. A defined benefit scheme works out its own pension input amount.
This is information. It is not a personal recommendation. Whether any of it is right for you depends on your circumstances. Tax treatment depends on your circumstances and on current rules, which can change.
Your pension input amount: what you and any employer pay into defined contribution pensions, with tax relief added. For a defined benefit scheme it is the increase in the value of your benefits, and the scheme can give you the figure.
No. You need to have been a member of a registered pension scheme at some point in that year. A year with nothing paid in carries forward its full allowance if you were a member.
Yes. The annual allowance covers what you and any employer pay in together, so carry forward applies to both. Relief on an employer's contribution is not limited by your earnings, which matters for directors who take a low salary.
Yes. The company claims it as an expense, no National Insurance is due on it, and your salary does not cap it.
Read the answer →Open a personal pension or join Nest. Contributions get tax relief at your marginal rate, up to £60,000 or your earnings if lower.
Read the answer →The growth in your NHS pension each year is measured against a £60,000 allowance, or less if your income tapers it.
Read the answer →A SIPP and a SSAS are both pensions in which you choose the investments. A SIPP is a personal pension, and a SSAS is a scheme a company sets up for its directors and staff.
Read the answer →The same company profit paid into your pension, as salary or as a dividend, and what each route leaves you after tax.
Work it out →Enter your pot and any lump sum allowance you have used to see your tax-free cash, and the income tax if you take the whole pot at once.
Work it out →Whether your pensions will cover the retirement you want, and by how much they miss.
Work it out →Your first call is with an Account Manager and is at no cost to you. Tell us what is on your mind: a pension you have lost track of, a fixed rate ending, a will you keep meaning to write.