Boost your pension with contribution matching

Contribution matching is quite simple – if you pay more into your pension, so will your employer. If your employer offers this, they’ll decide the maximum they will contribute.  

Example: If your employer will match up to 10% of your wages, they’ll typically pay in:

• 5% if you pay in 5%

• 8% if you pay in 8% 

• 10% if you pay in 10%.

Or any amount in between. In this example, you can pay in more than 10% of your wages but your employer will still pay in 10%. 

Some employers might also pay in more than you do. For example, they could pay in 10% if you pay in 5%, 12% if you pay in 6% and so on up to a certain upper limit.

Even an extra 1% from your employer can mean your pension is boosted by hundreds or thousands of pounds each year.

Here’s how contribution matching can boost your pension, based on an employer matching contributions on a full £20,000 salary.

The other benefit of contribution matching is your wages usually won’t reduce by the full amount that goes into your pension, as you normally avoid paying Income Tax. 

For example, if you pay basic-rate tax at 20%, this means your wages will usually only reduce by £80 for every £100 pension contribution you make. 

Combined with higher matched contributions, even a small increase to how much you pay in can give you a significant boost.

Here’s an example, based on total contributions being made on a full £20,000 salary.

For more information, see our guides:

• How tax relief boosts your pension contributions

• The annual allowance for tax relief on pension savings

Your employer doesn’t need to offer contribution matching, but they must automatically set up and pay at least 3% of your wages into a workplace pension if you: 

• earn over £10,000 a year

• are between age 22 and your State Pension ageOpens in a new window

Your employer must also pay in at least 3% if you ask to join their pension and you: 

• earn £6,240 to £10,000 a year

• are between age 16 and 75.

If you earn less than £6,240 a year, you can still ask to join a pension scheme but you might not get employer contributions.  

For more information, see our guides:

• Help if your employer fails to pay into your pension

• How pension auto-enrolment works

Our Workplace pension contribution calculator shows you how much extra you could get if your employer matches your increased contributions.

Here’s how to get the most pension contributions from your employer that you can afford.

Ask your employer what their highest rate of contribution matching is, and what you need to do to get it.

For example, if your employer offers contribution matching up to 10%, check if you’ll need to pay in 10% too.

Our Workplace pension contribution calculator shows you how much your pension contributions would be if you changed the rate you pay. 

Start by entering the maximum percentage your employer will match to see how much extra you’d need to save. You can then try lower percentages to see the difference. 

Before changing your pension contributions, make sure you’ll keep enough of your wages to cover your costs – including money for unexpected expenses.

Our free Budget planner can calculate how much spare cash you have after paying all your bills and other costs.  

Any money you save into a pension is usually locked away until age 55 (57 from April 2028), so it’s a good idea to have other types of savings you can access.

Once you’ve decided how much extra you’d like to save into your pension, ask your employer to increase your contributions. 

After the change has started, check your payslip to make sure everything is correct.

If you spot a problem, see our guide Help if your employer fails to pay into your pension.

It’s a good idea to regularly check if you can afford to pay more into your pension – even if your employer won’t match a higher amount.

Our Pensions calculator can show you an estimate of your retirement income, and how it might change if you changed your contributions.