In 2026/27 USS says members pay 6.1% of salary and employers 14.5%, with a 20% contribution on pay above £74,208 going into a savings pot.

If you are asking how much USS pension you pay, the short answer is a percentage of your salary taken each month, with your employer paying a larger percentage alongside it. What that comes to in pounds, and how it sits beside a mortgage, other pensions and savings, is personal. A USS member who wants those sums gone over by phone can ask, free of charge, for an FCA-authorised adviser to call back, using the form on this page. Free routes exist too: your employer's pension team, MoneyHelper, which GOV.UK describes as a source of free and impartial information, and Pension Wise, whose free appointments are open to people over 50 but which does not cover final salary or career average pensions.

6.1% from you, 14.5% from your employer

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) states the current position on its page about what you pay and what you'll get: members pay in 6.1% of salary each month and employers pay in 14.5%, the employer's share going "towards your benefits and running USS". Both figures carry a footnote saying they depend on future valuations, which is why the last section of this page looks at where the next valuation stands.

Salary here includes your regular pay and fixed cash allowances, and may include pay that varies from month to month, so your payroll team can say exactly what is counted. Both rates apply to the whole of that salary, not only the part below the threshold described next.

Our working, 20 October 2026, not a USS figure. It assumes a full year at an unchanged salary at the 2026/27 rates, no salary sacrifice and no extra contributions, and shows the member's share before tax relief:

  • a £40,000 salary means £2,440 a year from the member and £5,800 a year from the employer;
  • an £80,000 salary means £4,880 a year from the member and £11,600 a year from the employer.

Whether that is good value for the benefits is the trade-off weighed in whether USS is a good scheme.

The salary threshold and the 20% Investment Builder contribution

USS's salary threshold for 2026/27 is £74,208. Earn over it and a contribution equal to 20% of the pay above it goes into the Investment Builder, the scheme's defined contribution pot, automatically.

That 20% is not an extra deduction on top of 6.1% and 14.5%; it is carved out of them. The trustee's Schedule of Contributions, dated December 2023, sends the part of the member's 6.1% that relates to pay over the threshold into the defined contribution section and the rest into the defined benefit section. Out of the employer's 14.5%, it sets aside 13.9% of salary above the threshold for defined contribution benefits from 1 January 2024. On our working, 6.1% plus 13.9% gives the 20%. Your employer deducts your share from salary each month.

What the pot and the guaranteed part go on to build, with a worked example, is in how much USS pension you will get; the pot is invested, so it can fall as well as rise in value.

Paying more: additional contributions and the old AVC route

USS lets members put more into the Investment Builder through My USS, as regular payments or a one-off, even if they earn under the threshold, and the calculator tools there estimate what extra saving would cost and what it might add. Paying extra into USS covers the mechanics.

Older pots exist. No payments have gone into the Prudential Money Purchase AVC funds since 1 October 2019; additional contributions go to the Investment Builder instead. Limits such as the annual allowance may apply before tax charges arise, as the annual allowance guide explains. Whether your employer adds anything to extra payments is a question for your workplace pension team.

Whether to pay in more at all depends on your debts, other pensions and plans. Those are weighed together in a free call-back about your USS contributions from an FCA-authorised adviser, booked with the form on this page.

Salary sacrifice and tax relief

USS says contributions get tax relief, so some of the money that would otherwise go in tax goes into the pension instead; how tax relief works has the general rules.

Some employers also offer salary sacrifice: you give up the part of your salary you would have paid in and your employer pays that amount instead, which can mean lower National Insurance for both of you and sometimes higher take-home pay. The trustee's schedule says a member using it is not required to contribute and the employer pays the equivalent. It may not suit everyone. In USS's words, someone with less than two years in the scheme who uses it "will not have the option to get a refund of contributions when you leave", and it may affect how much you can borrow. Your workplace pension team can say whether your employer offers it.

From the 2029-30 tax year, only the first £2,000 a year of salary sacrificed into a pension will be free of National Insurance. This is no longer just a Budget plan: it is set by the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Act 2026, which became law on 29 April 2026. The sacrificed amounts stay free of Income Tax, subject to the usual limits. How much salary you can sacrifice into a pension covers the cap and the regulations still to come.

How the rates have moved, and the 2026 valuation

The December 2023 Schedule of Contributions shows the change made after the last valuation: it set 9.8% for members and 21.6% for employers for the period to 31 December 2023, and 6.1% and 14.5% from 1 January 2024. USS reports that the 2023 valuation found an estimated surplus of £7.4bn and an overall contribution rate that had fallen to 20.6%, and that its decisions were implemented in early 2024. The member and employer rates together also come to 20.6% (our addition).

The same schedule expects the rates to continue at these levels unless or until they are varied, subject to review after the next valuation. The 2026 valuation is based on a snapshot of the scheme at 31 March 2026. Its indicative timetable has the trustee confirming the funding position and any change in the overall rate to the Joint Negotiating Committee in October 2026; if there is a change, that committee decides how it is met, through benefits or the split between members and employers. Employer consultation with affected staff is anticipated between February and April 2027, and the legal deadline for completing the valuation is 30 June 2027. USS's member pages still showed 6.1% and 14.5% when read on 20 October 2026.

Questions about USS contributions

How much is the USS pension contribution?

For 2026/27 USS gives 6.1% of salary from the member and 14.5% from the employer, both subject to future valuations.

Is there a USS contributions calculator?

Yes: the calculator tools in My USS estimate the costs and benefits of saving more. The £40,000 and £80,000 examples above are only our working.

What is the maximum I can pay into USS?

The tax limits are what bite. GOV.UK puts the annual allowance at £60,000 for 2026/27, lower for some people, and it counts any increase in a defined benefit scheme as well as everything paid into a pot, so both parts of USS count. Separately, income tax relief only covers contributions up to 100% of what you earn in the year.

Do I get my contributions back if I leave early?

If you have paid in for less than two years you may be able to get a refund, but not if you used salary sacrifice. See what happens to USS if you are made redundant or leave.

Could the rates change?

Yes. USS marks them as subject to the outcome of future valuations, and the 2026 valuation is under way.

To compare these USS rates with your own payslip, the form on this page arranges a free telephone call with an FCA-authorised adviser.

Sources: USS member pages (what you pay and what you'll get, glossary, Investment Builder, Money Purchase AVCs, 2023 valuation, 2026 valuation) and the USS Schedule of Contributions of December 2023, read 20 October 2026; GOV.UK, Changes to salary sacrifice for pensions from April 2029, Personal pensions: get help, and Tax on your private pension contributions; legislation.gov.uk, National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Act 2026. The worked amounts are this site's own arithmetic.