A SIPP for children, or junior SIPP, is a pension in a child's name: up to £3,600 a year including 20% tax relief, locked until minimum pension age.
A parent or guardian opens it and runs it, relatives may be able to pay in, the child takes over at 18 and the money stays invested for decades. Where a child's plan sits inside wider family planning, an FCA-authorised adviser rings at no cost when a parent or grandparent sends the form on this page; the provider's own help team and the guides linked below are other routes.
What a junior SIPP is, who runs it and when it pays out
A junior SIPP is an ordinary self-invested personal pension held in a child's name, following the rules in the SIPP guide. What is different is who is in charge. Hargreaves Lansdown's page, read on 20 October 2026, calls it "a pension for children, opened and managed by a parent or guardian until the child turns 18". Fidelity's page says the account is in the child's name and the child must be under 18. AJ Bell's says the adult who opens it becomes the "registered contact" responsible for managing it, and both AJ Bell and Fidelity say control passes to the child at 18.
The adult running it picks the investments and deals with the provider. HMRC's manual on relief at source, PTM044220, says that for a child under 16 the child's obligations "can be discharged by a parent, guardian, or a person with parental responsibility". Fidelity's page adds that once the child is 16 or over, the child's National Insurance number and agreement to the tax relief declaration are needed, with the child present to confirm it.
Grandparents are a common question. At Hargreaves Lansdown a grandparent cannot open a junior SIPP for a grandchild, only a parent or legal guardian can, but once it is open "anyone can make contributions, including grandparents". Other providers set their own rules on who may open a plan and who may pay in, so ask the one you are looking at.
Then the money stays put. GOV.UK says personal pensions set an age for taking money that is "not normally before 55". Section 279 of the Finance Act 2004 sets the normal minimum pension age at 55 for now, rising to 57 on 6 April 2028, except in uniformed services schemes, which stay at 55; the other exceptions are in the guide to taking a pension from 55. Because control passes at 18, the young adult, not the person who started the plan, decides how it is invested for most of that wait.
How much can go in, and what that adds up to
The limit comes from the tax relief rules, not the product. Section 190 of the Finance Act 2004 sets "the basic amount" at £3,600 and makes it the most on which relief is given for someone with no relevant UK earnings chargeable to income tax. A child with no earnings is in that position. GOV.UK says the provider can claim relief at 20% on contributions, up to £2,880 for someone with no earnings in the tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April.
Our working, dated 20 October 2026: £3,600 x 80% = £2,880; £3,600 x 20% = £720; £2,880 + £720 = £3,600. The family pays in £2,880 and the provider claims £720, so the relief is 20% of the £3,600 that ends up in the pension, not 20% of the £2,880 paid.
The £3,600 belongs to the child and is shared by everyone who pays in; AJ Bell's page describes it as an annual limit per child. HMRC's manual, PTM041000, treats any contribution that is not an employer's as made by the member, so a grandparent's payment uses the child's limit and the relief is the child's. That rule is explained in paying into someone else's pension, and the mechanics in the pension tax relief guide. PTM044100 adds that unused relief cannot be carried backwards or forwards, so a year with nothing paid in is relief that is gone. A teenager with relevant UK earnings chargeable to income tax has a limit of whichever is greater, £3,600 or those earnings.
What the plan will be worth at the end has no fixed answer, because nobody can forecast investment returns. What can be worked out is what goes in. Our working, dated 20 October 2026, for £240 a month from birth to 18, if the basic amount stayed at £3,600 throughout: £240 x 12 = £2,880; £2,880 / 0.8 = £3,600; £3,600 x 18 = £64,800 in the pension, of which £2,880 x 18 = £51,840 comes from the family and £720 x 18 = £12,960 from tax relief.
Those are contributions only, with no growth and no charges taken off. The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and a child could get back less than was paid in. Hargreaves Lansdown's page offers a calculator that projects a plan to when the child is 60, at low, medium and high investment returns of its own choosing; any figure from a tool like that is an illustration, not a forecast.
Gifts from grandparents and inheritance tax
For a grandparent or other relative, money paid into a child's plan is a gift, and GOV.UK's inheritance tax gifts guidance is about the giver's estate, not the child's. Three parts of it bear on regular payments into a grandchild's pension.
The annual exemption lets a person give away "£3,000 worth of gifts each tax year" without it being added to their estate, to one person or split between several, and an unused exemption can be carried forward for one tax year only. It is one exemption for all of the giver's gifts. Our working, dated 20 October 2026: £3,000 - £2,880 = £120, which is what remains that year after one full junior SIPP payment, for every other gift the giver makes.
Regular payments have no limit under what GOV.UK calls "normal expenditure out of income", on two conditions: the giver can afford them after meeting their usual living costs, and the money comes out of regular monthly income. GOV.UK's examples include paying into a savings account for a child under 18. Whether a payment into a pension fits is a question for a solicitor or tax adviser, the professionals GOV.UK points to on what can be given away tax free.
Beyond those, GOV.UK says no tax is due on a gift if the giver lives for 7 years after making it, unless the gift is part of a trust, and whoever deals with the estate will have to work out the gifts made in those 7 years, so a note of each payment and its date helps. Where a grandparent wants their gifts weighed alongside their own pension, an FCA-authorised adviser can phone them once they have left a number on this page's form; inheritance tax on its own is solicitor or tax adviser territory.
What three providers say on their own pages
The table records statements from each provider's own junior SIPP page, read on 20 October 2026. None of the pages shows a publication date and terms change, so check the current page before opening anything. It is a record of what each says, not a ranking.
| Provider | Who opens it | On money in | On cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| AJ Bell | A parent, or someone in a position of parental responsibility, for a child under 18 | "a £3,600 annual limit per child"; anyone can contribute | An annual account charge, payable monthly, of no more than 0.25%; monthly investing free of charge, online deals from £1.50 |
| Hargreaves Lansdown | A parent or legal guardian | Open or top up "from £100 lump sum, or £25 a month" | Free to open; the account charge for holding investments is capped at 0.35%; the investments chosen may have their own ongoing charges |
| Fidelity | A parent or guardian, for a child under 18 | A single payment, or a regular savings plan from £20 a month | "We don't charge a service fee on junior accounts" |
Fund charges sit on top of these and vary with what is chosen; the pension charges guide explains the layers, and topping up an existing Hargreaves Lansdown plan is covered in its own guide.
A junior SIPP or a Junior ISA
The two do different jobs. GOV.UK describes a Junior ISA as a long-term, tax-free savings account for a child who is under 18 and living in the UK, with a limit of £9,000 in the 2026 to 2027 tax year. A parent or guardian with parental responsibility opens and manages it, the child can take control at 16, and the money cannot be withdrawn until 18. A junior SIPP takes up to £3,600 a year including the relief the provider claims, and stays locked until the minimum pension age. Money meant for university or a first home and money meant for retirement point in different directions, and some families use both; pension or ISA sets out the general comparison.
Opening a plan that a child cannot touch for half a century is a long commitment, and families differ more than the rules do. To talk yours through with a person, send this page's form, and the free return call is made by an FCA-authorised adviser.
Questions people ask
Who can open a junior SIPP?
On the pages read on 20 October 2026, AJ Bell says a parent or someone in a position of parental responsibility, Hargreaves Lansdown a parent or legal guardian, and Fidelity a parent or guardian. AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown say anyone can pay in once it is open.
What about a child who is already 18?
They hold an ordinary SIPP or personal pension in their own name, and other people can still pay into it. The SIPP guide covers adult plans, and personal pension or SIPP the choice of product.
Can I open a stakeholder pension for a child?
GOV.UK lists stakeholder pensions as a kind of personal pension with government-set requirements, charge limits among them. Whether a particular stakeholder provider accepts a child is up to that provider; stakeholder pension charges covers the limits.
Is a junior SIPP worth it?
That turns on the family's goals, other savings and how long the money can be left alone. The points to weigh are the tax relief, the long wait for access, the child's control at 18 and the risk that investments fall; are SIPPs worth it sets out the general arguments.
Is naming my child on my own pension the same thing?
No. Naming a child to receive your pension when you die is a separate subject, covered in can a child be a beneficiary of a pension.
The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and a pension may return less than was paid in.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk, read 20 October 2026: section 190 and section 279 of the 2004 Act
- HMRC Pensions Tax Manual, PTM044100, PTM044220 and PTM041000, read 20 October 2026
- GOV.UK, read 20 October 2026: Pension tax relief; Personal pensions; Inheritance Tax: Gifts; Junior ISAs
- Provider pages, read 20 October 2026: AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown, Fidelity