Can I still contribute to a personal pension if I have already retired?

I finished working in November 2024 and have been living off savings and investments until now. At the end of September '25, I decided to take my final salary pension which included my 25% tax-free allowance as I was fearful of impending changes to this in the Budget. I still have a separate Vanguard SIPP that I funded from an AVC transfer and from spare funds when I worked. Am I allowed to contribute any money into this now?

I understand that I have triggered the max £10,000 if I work again. Also when I was working up to November 2024, I did not use my full allowances. From October '22 to November '24, I was working part-time earning around £33k per year and making contributions to a pension of £1.5k per year-ish.

Hi Clive,

Yes, you could still contribute to your Vanguard SIPP but there are a few things to consider.

You've already mentioned that you may have triggered the MPAA which caps your tax-relievable contributions, but you also need relevant UK earnings (generally speaking this is employment or self-employment income) to receive tax relief - if you don't, you can contribute up to a maximum of £2,880 net (£3,600 gross) and still receive tax relief. Taking a final salary pension and tax-free lump sum alone would not trigger the MPAA however so it may be worth double-checking this!

You can carry forward unused allowances from previous years - up to the last 3 tax years - as long as you were a member of a pension scheme, have used this year's allowance and have not triggered the MPAA. However, the tax-relievable total contribution amount is still limited to your relevant earnings in this tax year.

You should also take a look at the tax-free cash recycling rules, which are designed to stop people recycling their lump sums to gain more tax relief. If you significantly increase your contribution amount, you might fall foul of these so it's worth checking them.

Hope this helps!