Yes, you can make additional savings. The more you save for your retirement, the more income you’ll have – so it makes sense to save as much as you can afford.
You make additional savings by paying additional voluntary contributions (AVCs). These are extra contributions you make on top of your standard contributions to build up more retirement savings. You’ll benefit from the same tax relief as your standard contributions.
You can contribute up to 100% of your salary towards your pension savings and still get tax relief, as long as the combined contributions from you and your employer are below the annual allowance. This applies to all the pension schemes you’re actively saving into, including our Scheme and any personal pensions you have.
From 6 April 2023 the allowance increased from £40,000 to £60,000.
The annual allowance could reduce to £10,000 a year if you start taking retirement benefits but also carry on saving into a pension. This reduced annual allowance is called the money purchase annual allowance.
See What is the money purchase annual allowance for pension contributions? for more information.