Am I allowed to put more than 2880 in pension if unemployed?

[BabyBentleyBlonde]

so I know if you are unemployed you can put 2880 and get tax relief to 3600

but are you allowed to put more? Not for tax relief, just if you want more of your own money in there

i am sahm and got inheritance and have zero pension.

I put in 2880 and got tax relief but really want to put more, 10k in.

is that allowed

You can put more in if you want but it would literally be throwing away money. Put another £2880 in to it in April for the new tax year and keep the rest in a saving account payibgvtbe best interest you can get and then do the same in 2027 and 2028. That way you will maximise the tax relief. If you stick it all in now you will lose out on over 2K
Why would you want to do that?

Yes, you can put in more, you'll just not get tax relief on the bit over the 2880.

But agree with pp, i'd certainly save some back to put 2880 in in April. You'd have to expect massive investment returns to make it worthwhile missing out on the free gross up each year.

Put £2880 in for this year, reserve £2880 for April. The remainder I would put into a stocks and shares ISA, something like a Vanguard global tracker.

Have you got a LiSA as well as a pension

Most SIPP providers apply the tax relief at 20% automatically so you can't put the money in and not get tax relief. The tax relief would get applied and you'd have to pay it back to HMRC.

If you are under 40, consider a LISA. It can be used as a retirement savings product and you get 25% bonus added, which works out the same as the tax relief. You can put in £4k a year and the government will add £1k. Use a stocks and shares LISA rather than a cash LISA if you are saving for retirement.
https://www.gov.uk/lifetime-isa

You could, but a stocks and shares ISA makes a lot more sense!

The advantages to a pension are
top up from government,
possible matching contribution from employer,
money grows tax free.

The downsides to a pension are
you pay some tax when you take it out,
you can't access the money until you reach a certain age.

With an ISA, you get no contribution from the govt or employer BUT
money grows tax free,
there's no tax when you take it out,
you can access the money whenever you want.

So in your case since you aren't getting contributions from the govt or an employer anyway, an ISA is better. You could then feed £2880 per year from the ISA into your pension to collect the government top up.

I don't think you can put more than the £2880 in a pension if you don't earn.

But a S&S ISA has the same effect, with the added advantage that you're not tying your money up until you're 57. You don't get tax relief but the gains are tax free so you don't get taxed when you withdraw money like you would on most of a pension.

If you're under 40 look at a LISA but there's also a normal ISA, I don't know if the standard £20k limits affected by paying into a LISA.

Just checking that you're also receiving NI credits linked to CB while your DC are under 12 even if you're not taking the money if your partner is a high earner?

You say you have no pension but did you not contribute before you stopped working?

Also do you plan to work when your DC are older? If so, you'll be able to increase your pension contributions to match your earnings up to a maximum of £60k pa then.

She can put more in, it just won't get tax relief over the £2880.
Why she would want to is another matter. Good point about the child benefit credits.