Can you pay extra into your USS pension?

Can you increase your USS pension contributions? Yes: pay extra into the Investment Builder through My USS, regularly or as a one-off.

Extra money goes into your savings pot, not into the guaranteed pension. To see how extra saving sits beside your other money, a call-back at no charge from an FCA-authorised adviser is on offer; the form on this page wants contact details only.

Can I pay extra into my USS pension?

Yes. USS says: "You can make additional contributions in My USS, which will go into your Investment Builder pot. These can be regular contributions or a one-off payment." Members who earn below the salary threshold can do this too, so extra saving is open even where the pot would not otherwise fill automatically.

The Investment Builder is the defined contribution part of USS. The guaranteed part, the Retirement Income Builder, is built from your salary and service, and USS describes defined benefit as the kind that "guarantees you an income for life once you retire". The two work side by side, so paying extra does not enlarge the guaranteed income. What you pay in is invested, and USS warns that the pot "can go up or down and could be worth less than what was paid in".

For what you and your employer already pay, see how much you pay into USS.

How do I set up additional contributions?

You do it online. Log in to My USS and open the view and manage savings page, where you can build the pot with regular additional contributions or with one-off lump sums. My USS also has calculator tools for estimating what saving more would cost and could buy.

You choose how the money is invested. Under the Let Me Do It Option you pick from a range of funds yourself; under the Do It For Me Option USS manages the investments. The pot has a Target Retirement Age setting that affects when investments move to lower-risk funds for Do It For Me members, and the page on when you can take your USS pension covers when the savings can be reached.

On cost, USS says that "In most cases, you won’t pay any more than your contributions as your employer covers admin costs and investment management fees." That subsidy does not extend to money transferred in from other schemes, which matters if you move an old pot in. Transferring in is a different matter from topping up; see the transfer page.

If you move to a different USS employer, extra contributions made in your old job have to be set up again in My USS.

What is The Match, and does my employer still add to it?

The Match is USS's name for one particular kind of extra saving: you choose to pay an additional 1% of your salary each month into the Investment Builder. For a short period your employer added to it. USS explains that members who paid The Match between October 2016 and March 2019 received an extra 1% from the employer too, but "from 1 April 2019, the employer element of The Match was removed."

So today your employer no longer adds that 1%. You can still choose The Match, or may already have it running, as one way of saving more. Your own record in My USS shows whether you have The Match set up.

What happened to USS AVCs and buying added years?

USS used to run Money Purchase AVCs, additional voluntary contributions invested with Prudential. USS says the arrangement closed to new payments on 1 October 2019: "it has not been possible to pay MPAVCs to any Prudential Funds" since then. If you have an older Prudential pot you can leave it where it is, switch it to the Investment Builder, or move it elsewhere, and USS recommends seeking financial advice before you act on that pot. Contact Prudential directly if you are unsure whether you hold one.

Whatever you decide about an old pot, you can still make additional contributions through the Investment Builder. For members today, the route USS sets out for saving more is the Investment Builder, The Match included. If you hoped to buy extra guaranteed pension, as some other public-sector schemes allow, USS's Member Service Team (0333 300 1043, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday) can confirm what applies to your record, while weighing other top-up options against your USS benefits is something a regulated adviser covers on a free call-back.

Tax limits on paying more in

Extra saving gets tax relief, within limits. GOV.UK says you can get relief on private pension contributions "worth up to 100% of your annual earnings". Separately, tax is due on pension saving above the annual allowance, set out by GOV.UK as "£60,000 this tax year" (2026/27), though it can be lower for some people, including anyone who has flexibly accessed a pension pot. It counts saving across all your pots, so a high earner or a member with large growth in the guaranteed part can reach it. For the Investment Builder too, tax charges may apply once limits such as the annual allowance are passed.

USS also lists tools for members near their limits. A Voluntary Salary Cap can help with tax charges if you earn over the salary threshold, but "if you use VSC, you’ll build fewer USS benefits". Once you start taking Investment Builder savings in certain ways, a lower Money Purchase Annual Allowance can apply; in USS's words, "The limit is £10,000 per year", and it applies to the year it is triggered and every later tax year.

Your allowance position depends on pay, other pots and past pension growth. If that is unclear, ask for a free call-back using the form here, then go through your USS figures with an FCA-authorised adviser.

If your employer runs salary sacrifice, that changes how your contributions are paid and the National Insurance on them; what members pay into USS explains it, including the change due in April 2029.

Practical points on extra USS saving

Can I pay in a one-off lump sum?

Yes. The view and manage savings page in My USS takes one-off lump sums as well as regular additional contributions, and the tax limits above still apply across the year. The Member Service Team can confirm the amounts you can set up on your own record.

Can I stop or change extra contributions later?

Extra contributions are set up in My USS, and you manage them in the same place. Check there for how changes take effect on your pay.

Can I take extra savings out before retirement?

Not freely. Access is governed by the minimum pension age, which rises from 55 to 57 in 2028, with exceptions, so it is not a rainy-day account.

Where can I get free guidance on the Investment Builder?

Pension Wise is "free, impartial and backed by government", and USS also points members to MoneyHelper. The Pension Wise page explains who can use it.

Weighing up whether to pay more

Three things tend to decide this. The first is that the guaranteed pension is the part USS describes as lasting for life, while the pot carries investment risk and could be worth less than you paid in. The second is the tax cap on pension saving, and the third is how extra saving sits beside your overall USS position, other pensions and the State Pension. For a closer look at how relief works, see pension tax relief.

Whether to save more, and by how much, depends on your pay, debts, other pots and plans. Use the quick form here to book a callback; an FCA-authorised adviser can cover pay, debts and pots together, and nothing is billed.