Can civil servant pension contributions be increased?

[JacknDiane]

Asking for dc. They work for cs and have recently went into the next tax band. I was saying that increasing their pension contribution might lower the tax band, but they aren't sure if they can increase what they pay. They've never increased it so they will be contributing whatever the starting rate is.
Has anyone any advice? They have bought a bike through the cycle to work scheme already. A company car is not included in job.
Thanks.

I think there usually is an option to contribute more, but not sure how it works, They can have a personal pension outside of work though with the same tax benefits.

But remember lowering your tax band also means lowering

Yes, there are three ways to do this.
1)You can buy added pension within the ordinary DB scheme
2)You can pay extra to reduce your effective pension age
3)You can pay AVCs into a civil service DC pension (or your own Sipp if you prefer)

Increase your pension

Pros and cons to each so they should read up on how it all works.

Thanks, I'll pass that on.