Pension Annual Allowance Calculator for NHS Staff
Work out your Pension Input Amount, tapered allowance, three years of carry forward, the tax charge and your Scheme Pays dates, from your NHS Pensions statement figures. Free, and it runs in your browser.
Last updated October 2026. Rules checked against gov.uk, the HMRC Pensions Tax Manual and NHS Pensions. How we check our figures.
Short answer
The standard annual allowance is £60,000 for 2026/27. You go over it if your NHS Pension Input Amount, (pension at year end x 16) minus (pension at year start x 16, plus CPI), plus any other pension saving, is higher. Unused allowance from the previous three tax years can cover the excess, oldest first. Only the amount left over is taxed, as the top slice of your income, and Scheme Pays can settle it from your pension. The allowance tapers to as low as £10,000 only if threshold income is over £200,000 and adjusted income is over £260,000. The calculator below does all of that.
1. Which tax year are you checking?
A tax year runs 6 April to 5 April. For 2025/26 the standard allowance is £60,000.
2. Your NHS Pension Input Amount for 2025/26
Pre-filled with the September CPI figure for 2025/26. Change it if your statement shows a different revaluation.
Where the numbers come from: the pension figures are on your NHS Pensions Annual Benefit Statement and your Pension Savings Statement. Your result is (closing pension x 16 + closing lump sum) minus (opening pension x 16 + opening lump sum) x (1 + CPI), never below zero.
Where to find these on your NHS Pensions statement
- Pension Savings Statement (sent to you if your NHS pension growth is likely to be over the standard allowance, or on request): look for "Pension input amount (growth)" for the year, and the carry forward table that lists the previous three years' pension input amounts and standard allowances.
- Opening and closing values table on the same statement: the opening value is already increased in line with inflation, which is what this calculator does when you enter pension figures.
- The statement does not show your unused allowance and does not allow for tapering or for pension saving outside the NHS. This calculator does those steps.
- NHS Pensions aims to send statements by 6 October after the tax year ends. If yours is late, you can file your tax return on a good-faith estimate. See NHS Pensions: annual allowance.
Add employer plus your own contributions to any other pension (private, a second NHS-style scheme, NHS AVCs), or the Pension Input Amount of another defined benefit scheme. All your pensions count towards one allowance. Leave at 0 if you have none.
3. Your income in 2025/26
Your total taxable pay for the year (salary, extra sessions, private work), after pension contributions taken from your pay before tax. This is also used as your threshold income. Only if it is over £200,000 can your allowance be tapered.
Where do you pay Income Tax?
Advanced: set adjusted income yourself
By default adjusted income is your taxable income plus your total Pension Input Amount (£223,664 at the moment). If your tax adviser gives you a different figure, enter it here.
4. The three tax years before 2025/26
Enter the total Pension Input Amount for each year (your Pension Savings Statement shows these). Unused allowance from these years is used oldest first, and only if you were a member of a registered pension scheme that year. The figures shown are an example. Replace them with your own.
2022/23 (standard allowance £40,000)
Different allowance that year, or already partly used?
Only if your statement shows less than allowance minus Pension Input Amount.
2023/24 (standard allowance £60,000)
Different allowance that year, or already partly used?
Only if your statement shows less than allowance minus Pension Input Amount.
2024/25 (standard allowance £60,000)
Different allowance that year, or already partly used?
Only if your statement shows less than allowance minus Pension Input Amount.
2025/26 result (example figures)
Over the allowance, but carry forward covers it
Your Pension Input Amount is £33,664 over the 2025/26 allowance, and unused allowance from earlier years absorbs all of it.
- Your Pension Input Amount
- £93,664
- Your allowance
- £60,000
- Standard
- Over before carry forward
- £33,664
- Chargeable after carry forward
- £0
Your four-year view
Bars show Pension Input Amount, the outline is that year's allowance, and gold is unused allowance you could carry forward.
| Tax year | Pension input | Allowance | Unused / over | Carry forward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | £30,000 | £40,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 used |
| 2023/24 | £35,000 | £60,000 | £25,000 | £23,664 used |
| 2024/25 | £38,000 | £60,000 | £22,000 | - |
| 2025/26 (checked) | £93,664 | £60,000 | £33,664 over | £33,664 used |
- Used £10,000 of the unused allowance from 2022/23
- Used £23,664 of the unused allowance from 2023/24
Oldest years are used first. Unused allowance can be carried forward for three years only, so unused allowance from the earliest year shown is lost if it is not used against an excess in 2025/26.
Tapered allowance for 2025/26
Threshold income is not over £200,000, so no taper applies whatever your adjusted income is.
Adjusted income used: £223,664 (taxable income plus your total Pension Input Amount). The allowance only falls if threshold income is over £200,000 and adjusted income is over £260,000. It then drops £1 for every £2 over, to a floor of £10,000.
Scheme Pays and key dates for 2025/26
No chargeable amount at these figures, so Scheme Pays is not relevant for 2025/26.
- Self Assessment deadline for 2025/2631 January 2027
- Usual Scheme Pays election deadline31 July 2027
Dates are the standard ones: 31 January after the tax year ends plus a year for Self Assessment, and 31 July after that for Scheme Pays. Your own deadline can differ if you were told about the charge late, so confirm with NHS Pensions. Scheme Pays reduces your future pension by an amount only NHS Pensions can quote, so ask for a quote before you elect. See Scheme Pays explained.
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Annual allowance by tax year, 2016/17 to 2026/27
These are the figures the calculator uses for each year. The standard allowance rose from £40,000 to £60,000 in 2023/24, and the taper thresholds changed in 2020/21 and again in 2023/24. Carry forward uses the allowance for the year it came from, so the older figures matter if you are checking back to 2020/21. Source: HMRC rates and allowances for pension schemes.
| Tax year | Standard allowance | Threshold income | Adjusted income | Minimum allowance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016/17 | £40,000 | £110,000 | £150,000 | £10,000 |
| 2017/18 | £40,000 | £110,000 | £150,000 | £10,000 |
| 2018/19 | £40,000 | £110,000 | £150,000 | £10,000 |
| 2019/20 | £40,000 | £110,000 | £150,000 | £10,000 |
| 2020/21 | £40,000 | £200,000 | £240,000 | £4,000 |
| 2021/22 | £40,000 | £200,000 | £240,000 | £4,000 |
| 2022/23 | £40,000 | £200,000 | £240,000 | £4,000 |
| 2023/24 | £60,000 | £200,000 | £260,000 | £10,000 |
| 2024/25 | £60,000 | £200,000 | £260,000 | £10,000 |
| 2025/26 | £60,000 | £200,000 | £260,000 | £10,000 |
| 2026/27 | £60,000 | £200,000 | £260,000 | £10,000 |
How the Pension Input Amount is worked out for the NHS Pension Scheme
Your Pension Input Amount is HMRC's measure of how much your defined benefit pension grew in the tax year. The opening and closing values are each your annual pension multiplied by 16, plus your automatic lump sum if you are in the 1995 Section. The opening value is increased by September inflation before the year began, then taken from the closing value. A negative answer counts as nil, and from 2023/24 a negative 1995/2008 figure can be set against a positive 2015 figure in the same year.
Take someone whose annual pension was £38,000 at the start of 2025/26 and £44,500 at the end. The opening value is £38,000 x 16 = £608,000, which rises to £618,336 with 1.7% CPI. The closing value is £44,500 x 16 = £712,000. The Pension Input Amount is the difference: £93,664. That is £33,664 over the standard allowance, even though the pension only grew by £6,500 a year. This is the 16 times multiplier at work, and why a promotion, a new job plan or extra sessions can trigger a charge. Our Pension Input Amount worked examples go through more cases.
The calculator pre-fills the CPI figure for the year you choose, taken from NHS Pensions' table (10.1% for 2023/24, 6.7% for 2024/25, 1.7% for 2025/26). For 2026/27 NHS Pensions had not published its figure when we checked, so it uses September 2025 CPI of 3.8%, which is what HMRC's rule gives. The Pension Savings Statement from NHS Pensions is the authoritative number, so if you have it, choose "I have it from my Pension Savings Statement".
Tapered annual allowance: threshold income, adjusted income and a worked example
Two tests must both be met before your allowance falls. Threshold income is broadly your taxable income before pension contributions are added back. It is not increased for contributions taken from your pay before tax, which is how NHS contributions work. Adjusted income is that income plus your total Pension Input Amount across every pension, which for an NHS member paying through their pay is simply taxable pay after contributions plus the total Pension Input Amount. HMRC sets this out in its Pensions Tax Manual at PTM057100.
Example for 2025/26: taxable income £215,000 and a total Pension Input Amount of £70,000 give adjusted income of £285,000. Both tests are met. Adjusted income is £25,000 over £260,000, so the allowance falls by £12,500 to £47,500. Notice the loop: a high Pension Input Amount lifts adjusted income, which cuts the allowance it is tested against. Reaching a taxable income of £200,000 or less takes you out of the taper altogether. Worked cases are in tapered annual allowance worked examples.
The allowance reaches its £10,000 minimum when adjusted income reaches £360,000. The graph in the calculator shows where you sit on that line, which is the quickest way to see how much more pay or pension growth it would take to move you down it.
Carry forward calculator: using unused allowance from the last three years
If your Pension Input Amount goes over the allowance, you can use unused allowance from the three tax years before. The current year's allowance is always used first. Each earlier year's unused amount is its allowance, tapered if you were tapered that year, minus that year's Pension Input Amount, and a year only counts if you were in a registered pension scheme at some point in it (deferred members count). The earliest year is used first, so if you go over, the oldest unused allowance is the allowance at risk of being lost.
Using the example above, the 2025/26 Pension Input Amount of £93,664 is £33,664 over the £60,000 allowance. The three earlier years had £10,000 (2022/23, when the allowance was £40,000), £25,000 (2023/24) and £22,000 (2024/25) unused. The oldest is used first:
| Year | Allowance | Pension Input Amount | Unused | Used against 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | £40,000 | £30,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 |
| 2023/24 | £60,000 | £35,000 | £25,000 | £23,664 |
| 2024/25 | £60,000 | £38,000 | £22,000 | £0 |
That covers the whole excess, so there is no charge, and £23,336 of unused allowance is still available for later years. One subtlety catches people out. If an earlier year in the three was itself over its allowance, it will have used up unused allowance from the years before it, so the simple sum overstates what you have. The calculator handles this for the years you enter. Our carry forward worked examples show it by hand.
Annual allowance charge: how much tax will I pay?
The chargeable amount is the part of your excess that carry forward does not cover. It is taxed as if it were the top slice of your income. Take someone on £130,000 of taxable income with a 2025/26 Pension Input Amount of £110,000 and little unused allowance to draw on. The excess is £50,000, carry forward covers £15,000, leaving £35,000 chargeable. Stacked on top of £130,000, it is taxed at 45% on the top slice, so the estimated charge is £15,750, an effective rate of 45%.
The charge goes on your Self Assessment return even if Scheme Pays settles it. On the Additional information pages (SA101), the Pension Savings Tax Charges section asks for the amount saved above the annual allowance, the tax paid or payable by your pension scheme, and your Pension Scheme Tax Reference from your statement. Ask your accountant which figures to enter, and file on a genuine estimate if your statement is late. Our estimate uses 2026/27 tax bands for every year and does not include reliefs, so treat it as a guide.
Scheme Pays: eligibility, deadlines and what it costs your pension
Scheme Pays is mandatory if both conditions are met: your total charge for the year is over £2,000, and your Pension Input Amount in the NHS scheme is over the standard allowance for that year (being tapered down does not count on its own). Below that, NHS Pensions may still offer voluntary Scheme Pays. The deadline is 31 July in the year after the Self Assessment deadline, and NHS Pensions has to receive your election form (SPE2) by then.
| Tax year | Self Assessment deadline | Usual Scheme Pays deadline |
|---|---|---|
| 2023/24 | 31 January 2025 | 31 July 2025 |
| 2024/25 | 31 January 2026 | 31 July 2026 |
| 2025/26 | 31 January 2027 | 31 July 2027 |
| 2026/27 | 31 January 2028 | 31 July 2028 |
These are the standard dates. You may get longer if you receive a late statement because of late information from a third party, and the date comes sooner if you are about to take all your benefits, so check with NHS Pensions. The cost is a notional debt, with interest at CPI plus a set rate (CPI plus 1.7% in NHS Pensions' July 2024 factsheet), turned into a permanent reduction to your pension when you retire. Ask for an estimate before you elect. Read Scheme Pays explained, and NHS Pensions' annual allowance page for the form.
Is there a lifetime allowance calculator? What replaced it
People still search for a pension lifetime allowance calculator, but the lifetime allowance charge was removed from 6 April 2023 and the allowance itself abolished from 6 April 2024. It was replaced by two limits on tax-free lump sums: the lump sum allowance, normally £268,275, and the lump sum and death benefit allowance, normally £1,073,100. Neither limits how much pension you can build up, and neither changes the annual allowance. If you hold a protection such as Fixed or Individual Protection, the amounts that apply to you differ, so confirm yours with NHS Pensions or HMRC. See gov.uk on the lump sum allowance.
Why NHS staff get caught without a high salary
The Pension Input Amount measures growth in the value of your pension, not your pay or contributions. Because pension growth is multiplied by 16, a pay jump in one year can use most of the £60,000 allowance. Promotions, new job plans, extra programmed activities, clinical excellence awards, a move to a higher band or an uplift landing in the same year as an increment are the usual causes. Most people who breach it are not tapered at all. Full background: NHS Annual Allowance Tax Charge Explained, and for doctors NHS pension for doctors and consultants and for GPs.
Check these before you rely on a result
- Use the statement. Your Pension Savings Statement is the official Pension Input Amount for each year. It does not show unused allowance or tapering, which the calculator adds.
- Include all your pensions. Private and workplace contributions, AVCs and other schemes count towards the same allowance. Put them in "other pension saving".
- McCloud. If your remedy choice changes past figures, revised statements can change a year. See McCloud remedy explained.
- 1995/2008 and 2015 together. If you have benefits in both, use the combined NHS figure after the same-year offset of a negative 1995/2008 amount, as NHS Pensions works it out.
- Get advice. If the result shows a charge, speak to an accountant or independent financial adviser with NHS pension experience before acting.
HMRC also has its own unused allowance checker. It does not estimate your Pension Input Amount, the tax charge or Scheme Pays, which is what this tool adds for NHS members.
⚠A planning estimate, not tax advice
This calculator gives a first-pass estimate to help you decide what to check. It is not a formal HMRC or NHS Pensions calculation, and FrontlinePay is independent of both. Always compare it with your statements.
What is free, and what Pro adds
The check above is free, including carry forward, the tapered allowance graph, the charge estimate and the Scheme Pays dates, and it stays free. Annual Allowance Pro (£19.99 one-off for 180 days, or included in FrontlinePay Pro) looks ahead: a three-year forward planner, a what-if slider for extra pensionable pay, a list of unused allowance and the date it expires, an accountant-ready PDF and an AI chat grounded in your figures.
Why trust this calculator
- ✓ Uses the allowance, threshold and taper figures for each tax year from HMRC's published rates and allowances, 2016/17 to 2026/27
- ✓ Applies HMRC's own method for the Pension Input Amount, adjusted income and carry forward, including oldest-year-first and unused allowance already used by later years
- ✓ Pre-fills the September CPI uplift NHS Pensions uses for each year, and says where a figure is expected rather than confirmed
- ✓ Tests mandatory Scheme Pays on the NHS Pension Input Amount against the standard allowance and a £2,000 charge, and shows deadlines by tax year
- ✓ Notes where it estimates: the tax charge uses 2026/27 bands and ignores reliefs
- ✓ Runs in your browser. Your figures are only saved on your own device, and you can clear them
Sources: HMRC rates, PTM055200 carry forward, PTM056110 the charge, PTM056430 Scheme Pays deadlines, NHS Pensions annual allowance.
Related guides and tools
NHS Annual Allowance Tax Charge Explained
Why senior staff are caught out, and what to do.
Pension Input Amount: Worked Examples
Three scenarios, step by step.
Tapered Annual Allowance: Worked Examples
Cases either side of the £200k and £260k thresholds.
Carry Forward: Worked Examples
Using unused allowance from earlier years.
Scheme Pays Explained
Eligibility, deadlines and the trade-off.
Understanding Your Annual Benefit Statement
Where the figures come from.
NHS Pension Calculator
Project your pension to retirement.
GP Take-Home Calculator
See the tax and pension picture on GP income.
NHS Pension Opt-Out Calculator
What opting out would really cost.