A Legal & General pension top up is a one-off payment through the L&G app, your online account or payroll, or a rise in the regular amount you pay in.

How do I make a one-off Legal & General pension top up?

The route turns on the kind of plan you hold, because Legal & General (L&G) runs two quite different ones. A workplace pension is set up by your employer and takes your contributions from pay. A personal pension is one you opened yourself, and you pay into it directly. Unsure which you have? Money taken from your salary points to a workplace plan; a Direct Debit or card payment from your own bank points to a personal one. Weighing how much extra to send L&G? Jot your contact details on this page's form; that L&G figure is then talked over, free, by the FCA-authorised adviser ringing back.

For a workplace plan, L&G says that "if your pension scheme offers this service" you may be able to pay in "at any time", on top of what your employer already contributes. The quickest route it names is the app: "head to your Pension overview, then scroll down and tap on the ‘Make a one-off contribution’ button." L&G adds that such a payment is "completely separate from your regular employer top-ups, contribution matching or salary sacrifice", so do not expect it to be matched.

Both the April 2023 and April 2026 versions of L&G’s WorkSave Pension Plan key features say you can pay a lump sum "from your employer’s payroll if they allow this, or directly to us by electronic payment or cheque". Other workplace plans may differ, so check yours in the app or with your employer.

For the L&G Personal Pension, its key features (April 2026 edition) say you can "log into your account online to make one-off top up payments and set up regular payments", with top ups collected by debit card and regular payments by Direct Debit. The first lump sum must be at least £100, and the key features give "£1 thereafter" for later ones. What a Legal & General personal pension is and how the L&G workplace pension works explain the plans themselves.

Paying more each month: payroll or Direct Debit

To raise regular payments, the route follows how you pay. If the money comes from your salary, L&G says to tell your payroll department. If you pay by Direct Debit, you tell L&G the new amount, and for the Personal Pension it says the easiest way is through your online account or app, where you can start, stop or amend regular payments. L&G adds that you can raise or lower regular payments, "but you may have to meet a minimum amount", and that your employer may limit how often you change them in a year. What the smallest regular Direct Debit can be is a point an adviser will explain, with no fee, once you complete the enquiry form.

On a workplace plan, L&G’s contributions guide says you can usually start putting more in at any time and your employer "might up their contributions too", though that depends on the employer. Salary sacrifice, if offered, swaps part of your pay for a bigger employer contribution; see how salary sacrifice works. The minimum an employer and employee must pay is a separate matter: L&G gives it as at least 8% of salary in general, with at least 3% from the employer, and the workplace pension minimum goes through it. Whether extra payments are worth making is the subject of paying extra into a workplace pension.

L&G’s personal pension page links a pension calculator showing how much could be in your pot at retirement, and how pension contributions are calculated covers the sums behind it.

Age, drawdown and employers: where L&G stops taking payments

First, age: L&G’s page says the Personal Pension takes lump sum or regular payments until you are 75, and its key features describe it as suitable for customers aged between 18 and 74.

Drawdown is the second. L&G’s drawdown accepts only full pension transfers, and once your plan is in it the key features say you "will not be able to make additional contributions". They add that you could open a new Personal Pension if you want to keep paying in. Withdrawals themselves are covered in taking money from an L&G pension.

Third, your employer cannot pay into the Personal Pension. L&G says it "isn’t suitable to meet automatic enrolment obligations", and its product page says the plan is set up for you to contribute into, with your employer contributing to a workplace pension instead.

Whatever you add is invested, so its value can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you put in. Charges are covered in Legal & General pension fees, and the fund choices in which Legal & General pension fund to choose.

What tax relief does L&G add to a top up?

For the Personal Pension, L&G says it automatically claims basic rate tax relief from the government and adds it to your pension by the end of the next working day. For a WorkSave plan, the key features say it claims basic rate relief on any contributions you make personally, whether regular or one-off. If you do not pay income tax, the Personal Pension key features say L&G can still claim basic rate relief for you. If you pay a higher rate you may be entitled to more, but L&G says you claim the extra yourself through your self-assessment tax return or from HMRC. The rate differs in some parts of the UK, so how pension tax relief works has the detail.

The key features add that you can pay in the equivalent of your entire annual salary each year, or up to £3,600 if that is greater, and still get relief. L&G gives £60,000 as the standard annual allowance for 2026/27, a combined total across all your pensions, and says it could be less depending on your circumstances. The annual allowance explains how that limit works. Planning a sizeable top up? Sizing it against your allowances is something to raise, free, with an FCA-authorised adviser by telephone, once you request it using this page's form.

Cheques, regular payments and ceilings at L&G

Do I have to pay into an L&G Personal Pension every month?

No. L&G says you don’t have to pay in regularly, though it calls doing so a good idea, and you can stop or restart regular payments later. For a workplace plan, stopping can also affect your employer’s side; see pausing pension contributions.

Can I pay a top up by cheque?

For a WorkSave plan, the key features list cheque alongside electronic payment and payroll. For the Personal Pension, the key features say top ups are collected by debit card.

Is there a maximum top up?

L&G’s contributions guide says there is no maximum, but tax charges can follow above the annual allowance. In certain circumstances, L&G says, a lower money purchase annual allowance of £10,000 for 2026/27 applies once you start taking taxable income from a defined contribution pension, as a lump sum or through a flexible income product.

For how other providers handle this, see topping up an Aviva pension and topping up a Scottish Widows pension.