How many years can I carry forward unused pension allowance?

You can carry forward unused annual allowance from the previous three tax years. For 2025/26, that means you can use unused allowance from 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25. Any unused allowance older than three years is lost permanently.

Do I need to have made pension contributions to carry forward?

No — but you must have been a member of a registered pension scheme in each tax year you want to carry forward from. You don't need to have contributed anything. Even a dormant workplace pension counts as membership.

Can I carry forward if I have a tapered annual allowance?

Yes. If your income triggers the tapered annual allowance in the current year, you can still carry forward unused allowance from previous years. However, the unused amount from each prior year is based on that year's allowance (which may also have been tapered if you were a high earner then).

Does carry forward apply to the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA)?

No. Once the MPAA is triggered (by flexibly accessing a defined contribution pension), carry forward no longer applies to your money purchase contributions. You're capped at £10,000 for DC contributions with no carry forward. However, any defined benefit pension inputs are assessed against a separate 'alternative annual allowance'.

Can I carry forward if I earn less than £60,000?

Yes, but your tax-relievable contributions are capped at the higher of £3,600 or 100% of your UK earnings. So if you earn £45,000, you can only contribute £45,000 with tax relief — even if carry forward would technically give you a larger allowance. Employer contributions aren't limited by your earnings, though.

What happens to unused allowance from 2022/23 at the end of this tax year?

If you're in the 2025/26 tax year, unused allowance from 2022/23 expires on 5 April 2026. Once the 2026/27 tax year starts, you can only carry forward from 2023/24 onwards. Use it or lose it.

Pension Carry Forward Rules UK: Don't Lose Your Unused Allowance

Every tax year, you can put up to £60,000 into your pensions. But most people don't get anywhere near that figure — and the unused portion doesn't have to go to waste.

Pension carry forward lets you use unused annual allowance from the previous three tax years, potentially allowing contributions well over £100,000 in a single year. It's one of the most powerful (and underused) tax planning tools available — particularly for higher earners who've had a bonus, sold a business, or simply have cash to deploy.

With the 2025/26 tax year ending on 5 April 2026, any unused allowance from 2022/23 is about to disappear permanently. Here's exactly how carry forward works, who benefits most, and how to calculate what you can contribute.

How Carry Forward Works

The rules are precise but not complicated:

Use the current year's allowance first. Carry forward only kicks in once your contributions exceed your current year's annual allowance (£60,000 for 2025/26).
Go back up to three years. You can draw on unused allowance from 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25.
Earliest year first. Unused allowance from the oldest available year gets used before more recent years.
You must have been a pension scheme member. In each year you're carrying forward from, you need to have been a member of a UK registered pension scheme. You didn't need to contribute — just be enrolled.
Use it or lose it. Unused allowance from 2022/23 expires on 5 April 2026. After that, it's gone forever.

Annual Allowance by Tax Year

The standard annual allowance has changed over the years, which matters when calculating how much you can carry forward:

Tax Year	Standard Annual Allowance
2022/23	£40,000
2023/24	£60,000
2024/25	£60,000
2025/26	£60,000

Note the jump from £40,000 to £60,000 in April 2023. If you made minimal contributions during 2022/23, that's up to £40,000 of unused allowance — but only until 5 April 2026.

Calculating Your Available Carry Forward

To work out how much you can contribute this year using carry forward:

For each of the previous three tax years, take the annual allowance that applied to you (standard, tapered, or MPAA)
Subtract your total pension inputs for that year (personal + employer contributions, including tax relief)
The difference is your unused allowance for that year
Add all three years' unused allowances to your current year's £60,000

Worked Example: £120,000 Earner With Minimal Previous Contributions

Rachel earns £120,000 and has been in a workplace pension throughout, contributing 5% with a 3% employer match. Her pension inputs each year have been roughly £9,600.

Tax Year	Allowance	Pension Inputs	Unused
2022/23	£40,000	£9,600	£30,400
2023/24	£60,000	£9,600	£50,400
2024/25	£60,000	£9,600	£50,400
2025/26	£60,000	—	—

Rachel's maximum contribution for 2025/26: £60,000 + £30,400 + £50,400 + £50,400 = £191,200

That's a substantial amount she could shelter from income tax in a single year. If she received a large bonus or inheritance, this is how she'd deploy it tax-efficiently.

Remember: her tax-relievable personal contributions are capped at 100% of her earnings (£120,000). But employer contributions via salary sacrifice aren't limited by earnings — so structuring the contribution correctly matters.

Worked Example: £300,000 Earner With Tapered Allowance

David earns £300,000 and has been subject to the tapered annual allowance for several years. His threshold income (over £200,000) and adjusted income (over £260,000) mean his allowance has been reduced.

For 2025/26, with adjusted income of £300,000:

Excess over £260,000 = £40,000
Taper reduction = £40,000 ÷ 2 = £20,000
Tapered allowance = £60,000 − £20,000 = £40,000

But what about carry forward? If David's income was similarly high in previous years:

Tax Year	Allowance (Tapered)	Pension Inputs	Unused
2022/23	£20,000 (tapered from £40k)	£20,000	£0
2023/24	£40,000 (tapered from £60k)	£20,000	£20,000
2024/25	£40,000 (tapered from £60k)	£20,000	£20,000
2025/26	£40,000	—	—

David's maximum: £40,000 + £0 + £20,000 + £20,000 = £80,000

Less dramatic than Rachel's, because the taper reduced his allowance in each year. But still £80,000 of tax-relieved pension saving — double his current-year allowance.

Key point: the unused allowance from each prior year is based on that year's actual allowance (tapered or otherwise), not the standard £60,000.

Who Benefits Most From Carry Forward?

Carry forward isn't just for the wealthy. Several common situations make it particularly valuable:

Higher earners who've had a pay rise

If you earned £50,000 for years and recently moved to £100,000+, you likely have substantial unused allowance from your lower-earning years. Your new salary gives you both the cash and the tax incentive to use it.

Bonus recipients

A one-off bonus can push you into the 40% or 45% tax bracket. Contributing it to a pension via carry forward shelters it from higher-rate tax and may keep you below thresholds that trigger the personal allowance taper (which starts at £100,000).

Business owners after a profitable year

Directors who take variable dividends or have lumpy income can use carry forward to smooth out pension contributions across good and bad years.

Anyone approaching retirement

If you're 55+ and want to maximise your pension before drawing it, carry forward lets you front-load contributions in the final years before retirement.

The £100,000 personal allowance trap

If your income sits between £100,000 and £125,140, you're losing £1 of personal allowance for every £2 of income above £100,000 — creating an effective 60% tax rate. A large pension contribution using carry forward can bring your adjusted net income below £100,000, restoring your full £12,570 personal allowance.

Example: You earn £115,000. Contributing £15,000+ to your pension (via salary sacrifice or personal contribution) drops your adjusted net income below £100,000. You save income tax at an effective rate of 60% on that £15,000 — worth £9,000 in tax savings alone.

The Earnings Cap: An Important Limit

Tax relief on personal pension contributions is limited to 100% of your UK relevant earnings (or £3,600 gross if higher). This means:

If you earn £45,000, you can only get tax relief on up to £45,000 of personal contributions — even if carry forward gives you a £200,000+ allowance
Employer contributions are not subject to the earnings cap. This is why salary sacrifice can be more efficient for large contributions — the payment comes from the employer, bypassing the earnings limit
If you have no UK earnings (e.g., you've stopped working), you can still contribute up to £3,600 gross (£2,880 net) per year

This distinction between personal and employer contributions is critical when planning large carry forward contributions. Talk to your employer about salary sacrifice if you're hitting the earnings cap.

Carry Forward and the MPAA: A Trap to Watch

If you've flexibly accessed a defined contribution pension (taken income via drawdown, or cashed in using an uncrystallised funds pension lump sum), the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) of £10,000 kicks in — and carry forward does not apply to your DC contributions.

This catches people out. Common triggers for the MPAA:

Taking any income from pension drawdown (even £1)
Taking an uncrystallised funds pension lump sum (UFPLS) — the 25% tax-free / 75% taxed withdrawal method
Taking a stand-alone lump sum from a money purchase arrangement over the small pots limit

What doesn't trigger the MPAA:

Taking your 25% tax-free lump sum and moving the rest to drawdown (without withdrawing income)
Buying an annuity
Taking a small pot lump sum (£10,000 or under)
Taking benefits from a defined benefit scheme

If you're considering accessing your pension flexibly, think carefully about whether you might want to use carry forward in future. Once the MPAA is triggered, there's no going back.

How to Make a Carry Forward Contribution

There's no special form or application. You simply make the contribution and, if HMRC queries it, demonstrate you had sufficient unused allowance.

Practical steps:

Gather your pension input statements. Your provider(s) should confirm what was contributed each year. For workplace pensions, check your annual benefit statements or payslips.
Calculate your unused allowance for each of the three prior years (using the correct allowance — standard, tapered, or MPAA).
Check you were a scheme member in each year you're carrying forward from.
Make the contribution. You can contribute to a SIPP, workplace pension, or any registered scheme. For personal contributions, you'll pay net of basic-rate tax relief (e.g., pay £48,000 to get £60,000 credited).
Claim higher-rate relief via Self Assessment if applicable. HMRC won't automatically give you 40% or 45% relief — you need to claim it.

For very large contributions, consider speaking to a financial adviser to confirm the numbers and optimal structuring (personal vs employer, salary sacrifice, etc.).

Don't Wait Until April

The most common carry forward mistake isn't getting the maths wrong — it's leaving it too late.

Unused allowance from 2022/23 expires on 5 April 2026. If you had any headroom that year (and almost everyone with a £40,000 allowance who wasn't maximising contributions did), you have weeks to use it.

Pension providers can take time to process large contributions, especially if you're setting up salary sacrifice arrangements or making one-off lump sums into a SIPP. Start the process now — not in the last week of March.

Check What Your Pension Could Be Worth

A large carry forward contribution can meaningfully shift your retirement outcome. Even a one-off £50,000 top-up at age 45, growing at 5% after charges for 22 years, could be worth over £145,000 by age 67.

Use the PoundSense pension calculator to see how boosting your contributions — whether a one-off lump sum or an increased regular amount — changes your projected retirement income.

Summary

Rule	Detail
How far back	3 tax years (2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25 for the current year)
Current year allowance	£60,000 (standard)
Maximum with full carry forward	Up to £220,000 (if unused from all 3 years + current)
Must be a scheme member	Yes, in each year you carry forward from
Earliest year used first	Yes
MPAA blocks carry forward	For DC contributions, yes
Earnings cap	Personal contributions limited to 100% of earnings
2022/23 deadline	5 April 2026 — use it or lose it

Carry forward is free money in the sense that it's tax relief you're already entitled to but might not be claiming. If you've got the cash and the headroom, there are very few more efficient ways to build your retirement savings.