Junior SIPP allowance explained: £2,880 in, £3,600 with tax relief
You can pay up to £2,880 a year into a child's pension, and the government tops it up to £3,600. How the Junior SIPP allowance works, who can pay in, how it fits with the Junior ISA limit, and when the money can be used.
A Junior SIPP (a self-invested personal pension for a child) comes with a yearly allowance that looks odd at first: £2,880. It's an unusual number because it's worked out backwards from a round one. Add the government's tax relief and it becomes £3,600.
Here's how the allowance works, who can use it, and how it fits alongside a Junior ISA.
Quick answer: up to £2,880 a year can go into a child's pension, from everyone combined. The government adds 20% basic-rate tax relief, which tops it up to £3,600. The allowance resets every 6 April and is separate from the £9,000 Junior ISA limit.
Try the Junior SIPP calculator to see what payments and the top-up could grow to over a lifetime.
Where £2,880 and £3,600 come from
Most people can get tax relief on pension payments up to the amount they earn in a year. Children don't usually earn anything. So the rules give everyone, earning or not, relief on at least a basic amount of £3,600 a year, including the relief (HMRC Pensions Tax Manual).
The relief is added at the basic rate of 20%. So you pay 80% and the government adds 20%:
- You pay in: £2,880
- Tax relief added: £720
- In the pension: £3,600
GOV.UK puts it simply: if you have no earnings, you can get tax relief on up to £2,880 a year.
Another way to see it: for every £80 you pay in, the government adds £20. That's a 25% top-up on what you pay.
How the tax relief arrives (relief at source)
Junior SIPPs use a system called relief at source:
- You pay into the pension, for example £100
- The pension provider claims 20% from HMRC
- HMRC pays it to the provider, and it's added to the pension: £25 on top of your £100
There's nothing for you to claim and no forms to fill in. The relief arrives a little after your payment, because the provider has to claim it first.
Worth knowing: the relief is basic rate only. If you're a higher-rate taxpayer paying into your child's pension, you can't claim extra relief yourself. It's your child's pension, so the relief follows your child's position, not yours. Our Junior SIPP tax relief guide goes into more detail, including tax when the money comes out.
Who can pay in
Only a parent or legal guardian can open a Junior SIPP. Once it's open, anyone can pay in: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, family friends. HMRC treats payments made "by or on behalf of" the child as the child's own contributions, so they all get the same relief.
But the £2,880 is for everyone combined. It isn't £2,880 per person.
Example:
- Parents pay £150 a month: £1,800 a year
- Grandparents pay £1,080 at Christmas
- Total paid in: £2,880 ✅ (with relief, £3,600)
- Room left this year: none
If several people pay in, agree who pays what, and keep a running total. (If you use Squids-In, the parent dashboard can track Junior ISA and Junior SIPP payments against each tax year's allowance.) Most providers won't accept payments over the limit, but if it does happen, only the first £3,600 (including relief) gets tax relief.
Using it alongside a Junior ISA
The Junior SIPP allowance is completely separate from the Junior ISA allowance.
| Junior ISA | Junior SIPP | |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly limit | £9,000 | £2,880 paid in (£3,600 with relief) |
| Government top-up | None | 20% basic-rate relief (25% on what you pay) |
| Money can be used | From 18 | From pension age (57 from April 2028, likely later) |
| Tax when it comes out | None | Currently up to 25% tax-free, the rest taxed as income |
A family could pay £9,000 into a Junior ISA and £2,880 into a Junior SIPP in the same tax year: £11,880 in total, or £12,600 once the pension relief is added. Very few families do that, and there's no need to. Any amount helps.
Many families who use both treat them as two different jobs: the Junior ISA for their child's early adult life, the Junior SIPP for the very long term. Our Junior ISA vs Junior SIPP comparison looks at the trade-offs.
The allowance runs by tax year
Like ISAs, the Junior SIPP allowance runs from 6 April to 5 April:
- Unused allowance can't be carried forward to the next year
- A payment on 5 April counts towards the old tax year; one on 6 April counts towards the new one
- Allow time for a payment to reach the provider before 5 April
When your child gets older
At 18, the Junior SIPP becomes an ordinary pension in your child's name and they take control of it. The money stays locked, though.
Once they're earning, the rules change for them. If a teenager or young adult earns more than £3,600 in a year, for example from a part-time job, they can get relief on pension payments up to 100% of their earnings, rather than the flat £3,600.
When the money can be used
A Junior SIPP is locked until the minimum pension age. That's 55 today and rises to 57 on 6 April 2028 (GOV.UK). The government linked that rise to the state pension age going up to 67, so it could well rise again before today's children retire.
That long lock is the price of the top-up. It's why many families think of a Junior SIPP as a gift to their child's much older self, and keep money they might need sooner in a Junior ISA.
What the allowance could grow to
Illustration: £240 a month paid in (£2,880 a year, or £3,600 with relief) from birth to 18, growing at 6% a year, could be worth about £115,000 at 18. Left to grow with nothing more added, it could reach about £1.1 million at 57, in future pounds (prices will have risen a lot by then).
Those figures aren't a promise: returns go up and down, and charges reduce them. But they show why the allowance, small as it looks, is powerful when time is on your side. Smaller amounts work the same way: £25 a month from you becomes £31.25 a month in the pension.
Try your own numbers in the Junior SIPP calculator, which includes the 25% top-up.
Key points
- £2,880 a year can be paid in, from everyone combined; relief tops it up to £3,600
- Relief at source: the provider claims 20% from HMRC, with nothing for you to do
- Anyone can pay in once a parent or guardian has opened it
- Separate from the £9,000 Junior ISA allowance, so a family can use both
- Locked until pension age: 57 from April 2028, and likely later for today's children
Next steps
- Read what a Junior SIPP is if you're new to them
- Decide how a pension fits alongside any Junior ISA
- Agree with family who pays what, if others want to help
- Try some numbers in the Junior SIPP calculator
Related guides:
- What is a Junior SIPP?
- Junior SIPP tax relief explained
- Junior ISA vs Junior SIPP
- Junior ISA contribution limits
This article is for education only and isn't financial advice. Pension and tax rules can change, so check GOV.UK for the latest. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
Written by Squids-In Team
The Squids-In team writes plain-English guides to help families understand Junior ISAs, Junior SIPPs and long-term investing, and to help children learn about money with confidence.
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