UK Pension Tracker — SIPPs, Workplace and Final-Salary

The short version. Britain has four quite different kinds of pension and they do not add up to one number. A pot has a balance; a final-salary scheme pays a formula and has none; the State Pension is an income from a fixed age. WealthR holds all four as what they are, which is why a final-salary pension shows as the income it will pay rather than a guess at its value. Free permanently, with no limit on how many you add.

The four kinds, and why the difference decides everything

Nearly every pension tracker assumes a pension is a pot with a balance. For a lot of people in Britain the largest one is not.

Defined contribution — a potWorkplace auto-enrolment schemes, personal pensions. Money goes in from you and your employer, it is invested, and what you end up with is whatever it grows to. This one does have a balance.
SIPP — a pot you steerSame arithmetic as above, with you choosing the investments. Tracked by value, with its own contributions and its own growth rate.
Defined benefit — an incomeFinal salary and career average. Pays a fraction of your salary for each year served, for life. There is no balance anywhere in it. Common in the NHS, teaching, the civil service, local government and the armed forces.
The State Pension — an income from a fixed ageBuilt from National Insurance years, paid from State Pension age, currently £241.30 a week. Not a pot, not touchable early, and not optional.

Why a final-salary pension breaks most trackers

Ask a tracker built abroad to hold a final-salary pension and it will want a number. There isn't one. The scheme promises an income — say a sixtieth of your salary for each year you worked there — and that promise has no account balance behind it.

Most tools handle this in one of two bad ways: ignore it, or ask you to invent a transfer value and treat it as a pot. The first leaves the biggest asset many people own out of the picture entirely. The second produces a number that is wrong in both directions at once — it overstates what you can spend and understates the security you actually have, because a guaranteed inflation-linked income is not the same thing as a pot of the same size.

WealthR models it as income. Enter the annual figure from your statement, or give it salary, years of service and accrual rate and it derives one. It then pays out from the age the scheme starts, alongside the State Pension and anything you draw from pots, and the tax is worked out on the whole lot together. Roughly half the people paying for WealthR hold one, which is why it was never going to be an afterthought here.

AVCs, and the scheme they belong to

An Additional Voluntary Contribution is a money-purchase pot bolted onto a final-salary scheme — very common in the public sector. It grows and is drawn like any other pot, but it belongs to a scheme, and WealthR records which one.

That link is not bookkeeping. In several public schemes the tax-free cash available from an AVC is measured across the combined benefits rather than the AVC on its own, which can make far more of it available as cash than the usual quarter. Recording the relationship is what makes it possible to get that right.

What goes in, and what the taxman gives back

A pot is driven as much by contributions as by growth, so both are modelled per pot: what you pay, what your employer pays, and the tax relief on your share at your marginal rate — including the higher-rate slice that is not automatic under relief-at-source and has to be claimed.

Since v1863 each pot can carry its own growth rate rather than inheriting one number for everything, because a cautious workplace default and a self-managed SIPP do not behave alike. Leave it blank and it follows your plan's rate, exactly as before.

The annual allowance

There is a ceiling on what can go in across all your pensions in a tax year, counting your contributions, your employer's and the tax relief.

Pension annual allowance, 2026/27. WealthR applies the taper automatically where income triggers it.
Figure	2026/27
Annual allowance	£60,000
Taper begins (adjusted income above)	£260,000
Taper rate	£1 for every £2 over
Tapered allowance floor	£10,000
Earliest you can normally draw a pot	55 → 57 from April 2028
New State Pension	£241.30 a week

Going over it adds the excess to your taxable income. WealthR shows what you have used against the allowance as you record contributions, so it is visible during the year rather than in a letter afterwards.

Pensions you have lost track of

The average career leaves a trail of small workplace pots behind it. WealthR cannot find them: it never connects to a provider, and it does not move, transfer or combine anything — it records what you tell it. For a scheme you have genuinely lost, the government's free Pension Tracing Service will give you the current contact details. Once a statement arrives, the figures go in here with the rest.

Whether it makes sense to combine pensions is a question with real consequences — exit charges, lost guarantees, protected pension ages — and it is a regulated advice question, not a tracking one. WealthR's job is to let you see them all in one place and model what each one does.

What the free plan covers

Free, permanently, with no card

Unlimited pensions — SIPPs, workplace pots, final-salary schemes and AVCs
Final-salary modelled as income, entered directly or derived from salary, service and accrual
State Pension projected from your National Insurance record
Contributions and tax relief per pot, with a growth rate per pot
The retirement forecast those pensions feed, month by month to 99
The chance your money lasts, from 5,000 simulated futures

WealthR Pro (£5.99 a month or £39.99 a year) adds the drawdown planner, withdrawal ordering and PDF reports. Tracking the pensions themselves is not behind it.

Questions people ask

Can I track a final-salary pension?

Yes, and it is modelled as an income rather than a pot, because that is what it is. A defined-benefit or career-average scheme pays a formula — a fraction of your salary for each year of service — so it has no balance to add up. You can enter the annual figure from your statement, or let WealthR derive it from salary, years of service and accrual rate. Roughly half the people paying for WealthR hold one.

Does it track SIPPs and workplace pensions too?

Yes. Defined-contribution pots — SIPPs, personal pensions and workplace auto-enrolment schemes — are tracked by value, with their own contributions and, since v1863, their own growth rate rather than one rate applied to everything. There is no limit on how many you add, on the free plan.

What is the pension annual allowance for 2026/27?

£60,000 across all your pensions, counting your contributions, your employer's and the tax relief. It tapers for high earners once adjusted income passes £260,000, falling by £1 for every £2 above it, and does not drop below £10,000. WealthR tracks what you have used against it, and the taper is applied automatically where your income triggers it.

Does it include the State Pension?

Yes. The new State Pension is £241.30 a week for 2026/27, and WealthR projects what you are on course for from the National Insurance years you record, starting at your own State Pension age. It is shown as income from that age rather than folded into a pot, because that is how it is paid.

What is an AVC and how is it handled?

An Additional Voluntary Contribution is a money-purchase pot attached to a final-salary scheme — common in the NHS, teaching, the civil service and local government. It grows and is drawn like any defined-contribution pot, but it belongs to a scheme, and WealthR records which one. That link matters because in several public schemes the tax-free cash from an AVC is measured across the combined benefits rather than the AVC alone.

Can WealthR find pensions I have lost track of?

No — WealthR records what you tell it and never connects to a provider or moves anything. For a pension you have genuinely lost, the government's free Pension Tracing Service will find the scheme's current contact details. Once you have the statement, the figures go in here alongside everything else.

See what your pensions are really worth

All of them, counted the way they actually work, feeding one forecast. Free permanently, no card, no bank linking.

Track your pensions free → See the retirement planner

WealthR is a tracking and forecasting tool, not a financial adviser. WealthR Ltd is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and nothing here is personal advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, hold, transfer or consolidate anything — decisions about moving a pension carry real consequences and belong with a regulated adviser. Tax figures shown are for the 2026/27 UK tax year and may change. For guidance on your own circumstances, speak to a regulated adviser, MoneyHelper or Pension Wise.