How much pension to get under £100,000: calculator

If your adjusted net income is over £100,000, paying more into a pension is the usual way back under. It keeps 30 funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare for your family, and gets you out of the 60% tax trap. Put in your figures to see how much you need.

How the sum works

You need to pay in however much your adjusted net income is over £100,000. If it's £108,000, that's £8,000 more into your pension in the tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April.

• Salary sacrifice or net pay: the contribution comes out of your pay before tax, so £8,000 of salary goes in.
• A personal pension (relief at source): you pay £6,400 and the provider adds £1,600 of basic-rate tax relief. The gross £8,000 is what counts. Claim the rest of your tax relief through Self Assessment, or ask HMRC to adjust your tax code.

Exactly £100,000 is fine: you only lose the childcare help if your adjusted net income is over it. Many people aim a few hundred pounds below, because interest and taxable benefits can creep up during the year.

What it costs

Much less than it looks. Between £100,000 and £125,140 each extra £1 of pay is taxed at 60%, plus 2% National Insurance. So with salary sacrifice, £1 into your pension in that band costs about 38p in take-home pay. Below £100,000 it costs about 58p. Other methods cost about 2p more in the pound, because they don't save National Insurance. The calculator works it out for your pay.

When to do it

• Salary sacrifice can't be backdated. If you start part-way through the year, the same amount has to come from fewer months.
• A bonus can go into your pension too, if your employer allows it and you ask before it's paid. See bonus season.
• Personal pension payments count if they're made by 5 April.

Check both parents

The limit applies to each parent separately: if either of you is over £100,000, the family loses the extra hours and Tax-Free Childcare. The planner works out both of you, year by year, with your children's dates.

More guides

• 60% tax trap calculator

  See how much of your income is taxed at 60%, what the lost Personal Allowance costs and how much pension gets you out.

• The 60% tax trap between £100,000 and £125,140

  Why income between £100,000 and £125,140 is taxed at 60%, and how pension contributions get you out of it.

• Losing funded childcare at £100,000

  How 30 funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare stop when either parent goes over £100,000, and what stays.

• Salary sacrifice, net pay and relief at source

  The three ways pension contributions are made, and how each one lowers your adjusted net income.

• The High Income Child Benefit Charge

  How Child Benefit is clawed back between £60,000 and £80,000, and why you should still claim.

• What is adjusted net income?

  The income figure behind the £100,000 childcare limit, the Personal Allowance taper and the Child Benefit charge.

• Budget 2026: what it means for parents near £100,000

  What the 28 October 2026 Budget changed, and didn't, for families around the £100,000 childcare limit.

• Salary sacrifice from April 2029: the £2,000 National Insurance cap

  From April 2029 only £2,000 a year of pension salary sacrifice is free of National Insurance. Why it still keeps you under £100,000.

• Bonus season: sacrificing a bonus to stay under £100,000

  How to put part of a bonus into your pension so it doesn't push you over £100,000, and when to ask.

Sources

• Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (GOV.UK)
• Tax relief on pension contributions (GOV.UK)
• Tax-Free Childcare (GOV.UK)

Checked 31 October 2026 for England. This guide is general information, not financial advice.