UK Pension Calculator 2024-25
Project your pension pot and retirement income with auto-enrolment contributions, employer contributions, and pension tax relief for 2024/25.
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How to use this calculator
- 1
Enter your gross annual income, your current age and the age you plan to retire. If retirement is not after today’s age, the years to retirement show as zero.
- 2
Enter the employee and employer contribution percentages. Both are applied to a band of earnings, not the whole salary, using the band built into this tool.
- 3
Add any pension pot you already have; it is compounded at the same fixed growth rate as the new contributions.
- 4
Read the projected pot, the 4% income estimate and the contribution lines. The growth rate cannot be changed on this page, so compare scenarios by adjusting the other inputs.
Frequently asked questions
How does this tool project the pension pot?
It adds the annual employee and employer contributions, divides by 12 and compounds a level monthly payment at 5% a year (a monthly rate of 5% ÷ 12) over years × 12 months. Your existing pot is compounded at the same rate and added. Growth is a fixed assumption in the code, not an input, and the tool does not model charges, salary rises or inflation.
Which earnings are the percentages applied to?
Only to a band of earnings: the part of your income between £6,240 and £50,270, as built into this tool and labelled 2024-25. Income below the lower figure is ignored and income above the upper figure is ignored too, so a £60,000 salary and an £80,000 salary produce identical contributions. The figures are not updated automatically.
How is tax relief shown?
The employee figure is treated as the gross amount that goes into the pot. The tool shows 20% of it as basic-rate relief and the remaining 80% as your net cost, mimicking a relief-at-source arrangement. It does not check whether you pay tax, does not calculate higher-rate relief and does not model net-pay arrangements, so the relief and net cost lines are illustrative.
What is the “4% rule” income?
It multiplies the projected pot by 4% to show an annual figure. This is a simple convention, not a prediction of what an annuity or drawdown would pay, and it ignores tax on withdrawals, any tax-free lump sum, investment risk and the State Pension. It is also unrelated to inflation, since the pot is not adjusted for it.
What happens when I enter 0% for a contribution?
Zero is honoured. An employer contribution of 0% gives an employer line of £0 and a pot built only from your own contributions and any existing pot. A cleared box becomes 0 and is honoured too, so it does not bring back the starting values of 5% for the employee and 3% for the employer. Negative percentages are treated as zero.
What does the tool not cover?
Eligibility rules for being enrolled, annual or lifetime limits, tapered allowances, employer schemes that use full salary, salary sacrifice, final-salary benefits, the State Pension and investment charges are all outside the calculation. It models one level contribution pattern from today until the chosen age.
Are the rates and limits kept up to date?
No. The earnings band, the relief rate and the growth rate are figures built into this tool, labelled 2024-25. Pension rules change at least every tax year and the tool’s tables are not updated automatically, so HMRC, your scheme administrator or a qualified adviser decides what applies to you.
UK pension pot projections: contribution bands, fixed growth and the 4% income figure
How contributions are calculated
The tool does not apply your percentages to your whole salary. It first finds a band of earnings: income capped at £50,270 minus £6,240, floored at zero, using the figures built into this tool and labelled 2024-25. Your employee percentage and employer percentage are then applied to that band. The sum is the annual pension input, divided into twelve level monthly amounts. Because the cap applies, two people earning above the upper figure get the same contributions however large their salaries are.
Worked examples with different ages and contributions
With the default inputs, £40,000 income, age 35 to 67, 5% and 3%, no existing pot, the band is £33,760. Contributions are £1,688 from the employee and £1,013 from the employer, the pot at retirement is £212,639 and the 4% figure is £8,506 a year. Take £30,000 income, age 30 to 68, 5% and 3% with £10,000 already saved: the band is £23,760, contributions are £1,188 and £713, and the pot is £281,749, giving £11,270 a year. Finally, £80,000 income, age 45 to 65, 10% and 0% employer with £50,000 saved yields a band of £44,030, an employee line of £4,403 and a pot of £286,447.
Income level against contributions
The table keeps the default ages and the 5% and 3% rates, and changes only income. The first three rows rise because more of the salary falls inside the earnings band. The last two rows are identical because both incomes sit above the band’s upper figure.
| Annual income | Band used | Employee per year | Employer per year | Projected pot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £13,760 | £688 | £413 | £86,668 |
| £30,000 | £23,760 | £1,188 | £713 | £149,654 |
| £40,000 | £33,760 | £1,688 | £1,013 | £212,639 |
| £60,000 | £44,030 | £2,202 | £1,321 | £277,325 |
| £80,000 | £44,030 | £2,202 | £1,321 | £277,325 |
Assumptions behind the pot and the income figure
Growth is fixed at 5% a year in the code, contributions stay level in pounds from the first year to the last, and the 4% figure is a plain multiple of the final pot. Real pensions are exposed to fees, market swings, pay changes and tax on withdrawals, none of which appear here. The 20% relief and net-cost lines assume relief at source and do not test whether you pay income tax.
About the built-in rates
The earnings band, the 20% relief rate and the 5% growth assumption are the figures built into this tool, not statements of current rules. Pension rules change at least every tax year and the tool’s tables are not updated automatically, so HMRC, your scheme or a qualified adviser governs what applies to you.
Learn more from an authoritative source:
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Results are estimates for informational purposes only and do not constitute professional financial, medical, legal, or technical advice. Read full disclaimer →