Maximum Pension Contributions 2026/27

Written and reviewed by James Whitfield. Last updated for the 2026/27 tax year.

"How much can I pay into my pension?" has two answers: the maximum you can contribute with tax relief, and the maximum you can physically pay in. For most people the binding figure in 2026/27 is the £60,000 annual allowance — but your own earnings, a previous pension withdrawal, or a high income can lower it. This guide gives you the plain-English limits and how to go above them with carry forward.

The two limits that set your maximum

Two rules cap the pension contributions that attract tax relief. The lower one wins.

• The £60,000 annual allowance. This is the maximum total pension input across all your schemes — your own contributions, employer contributions and salary sacrifice all count towards it.
• 100% of your relevant UK earnings. Your personal contributions cannot exceed your earnings for the year (broadly employment income and trading profits). Employer contributions are not limited by this, but still count towards the £60,000.

If your earnings are below £60,000, your earnings are the ceiling for personal contributions. If you have no relevant UK earnings at all, you can still pay in £3,600 gross per year (£2,880 net, with HMRC adding £720) — useful for non-earning partners, children and retirees.

Maximum with tax relief vs maximum you can pay

There is no legal cap on how much you can physically pay into a pension. But contributions above the limits above do not get tax relief, and any pension input above £60,000 that is not covered by carry forward triggers the annual allowance charge — the excess is taxed at your marginal rate, clawing back the relief. In practice, the "maximum" worth paying is the point where relief stops.

Tax relief is given at your marginal rate: 20% for basic-rate taxpayers, 40% for higher-rate and 45% for additional-rate. So a £10,000 gross contribution costs a higher-rate taxpayer £6,000 net.

Money Purchase Annual Allowance: £10,000

If you have already flexibly accessed a defined contribution pension — for example taken drawdown income or an UFPLS lump sum — your maximum for future money purchase contributions drops to the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA) of £10,000, and carry forward cannot lift it. Taking only your 25% tax-free cash does not trigger the MPAA. See the MPAA guide for the full list of triggers.

High earners: the tapered annual allowance

Once your adjusted income exceeds £260,000, your £60,000 allowance is tapered down — by £1 for every £2 of income above the threshold — to a minimum of £10,000 for the very highest earners. If this might apply to you, work out your adjusted and threshold income carefully before contributing; the tapered annual allowance guide walks through the calculation.

Going above £60,000: carry forward

You can pay in more than £60,000 in a single year by using carry forward — unused annual allowance from the previous three tax years. To use it you must have been a pension scheme member in those years and have enough current-year earnings to cover the whole personal contribution (carry forward does not lift the 100%-of-earnings rule). With three full years unused plus the current £60,000, the theoretical one-year maximum is up to £180,000 of prior allowance on top of this year's £60,000. Try our carry forward calculator to see your figure.

Worked examples: your maximum in 2026/27

The £100,000–£125,140 sweet spot

If your income sits between £100,000 and £125,140, your £12,570 personal allowance is withdrawn at £1 for every £2 over £100,000, creating an effective marginal tax rate of around 60%. A pension contribution that brings your adjusted net income back down through this band gets relief at roughly 60% — the most tax-efficient contribution most people can make. The personal allowance recovery calculator shows the effect.