Educational, not advice. This guide explains the 2026/27 Teachers’ Pension contribution tiers and how they work. It doesn’t tell you what to do with your pension. For decisions that depend on your circumstances, talk to a regulated adviser or MoneyHelper.
What this article covers
- Does: Set out the six Teachers’ Pension contribution tiers in force from 1 April 2026, explain why the thresholds moved this April while the rates didn’t, and walk through worked examples for classroom teachers, part-timers, and leaders. Cross-link to the full Teachers’ Pension guide for everything else.
- Doesn’t: Cover accrual, retirement ages, final salary links, phased retirement, or the Annual Allowance. Those sit in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme guide. This page is a stand-alone reference for contribution tiers only.
- If you need advice: Speak to a regulated financial adviser, or contact MoneyHelper for free, government-backed guidance.
The Teachers’ Pension contributions 2026/27 table has new numbers in every row, yet the rates haven’t changed. Every April the scheme moves the salary thresholds that decide which contribution tier you’re in, and from 1 April 2026 those thresholds went up by 3.8%, the CPI figure for the year to September 2025. The rates themselves have been fixed since April 2025. So if your pay rose this year under the standard award, you’re very likely paying the same percentage you were paying in March, because the thresholds rose at roughly the same pace as pay. That’s the part most annual coverage skips, and it’s worth getting straight before you read the table.
In short
- From 1 April 2026 the Teachers’ Pension Scheme uses a six-tier contribution structure with rates running from 7.4% to 12.0%.
- The rates are unchanged since April 2025. Only the salary thresholds move each year.
- Thresholds for 2026/27 were uplifted by 3.8% (September 2025 CPI). Most members didn’t drift into a higher band despite a pay rise.
- Your tier is set from your actual salary for the job, not the full-time equivalent. Part-timers pay the rate that fits what they actually earn.
- Your employer contributes 28.68% on top for 2026/27. That employer rate is due to fall to 17.68% from 1 April 2027 following the 2024 scheme valuation. Your own rate is not affected.
- For how those contributions translate into an actual pension, see the full Teachers’ Pension guide.
The 2026/27 contribution table
These are the six tiers in force from 1 April 2026, verified against Teachers’ Pensions and cross-checked with MoneyHelper. The Teachers’ Pensions site is the authoritative source. Check it for any in-year updates.
| Tier | Annual salary rate (2026/27) | Contribution rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Up to £36,198.99 | 7.4% |
| 2 | £36,199.00 to £48,727.99 | 8.9% |
| 3 | £48,728.00 to £57,776.99 | 9.9% |
| 4 | £57,777.00 to £76,572.99 | 10.5% |
| 5 | £76,573.00 to £104,413.99 | 11.6% |
| 6 | £104,414.00 and above | 12.0% |
Calculate your Teachers’ Pension contributions 2026/27
The table gives you the bands. The calculator below works out the actual pounds. Enter your annual salary and it returns your tier, your contribution rate, and what you and your employer each pay in for 2026/27. It is a figures tool: it doesn’t give advice or tell you what to do.
Interactive calculator
Your 2026/27 Teachers’ Pension contribution
Enter your annual salary to see your tier, your rate, and what you and your employer each pay in.
Use your actual annual salary for the job. If you work part-time, use what you actually earn, not the full-time-equivalent figure.
Enter a figure above to see your 2026/27 tier and contribution.
Figures use the 2026/27 tiers (effective 1 April 2026), rounded to the nearest pound. Your tier is set from your actual salary for the job, so part-time pay uses what you actually earn, not the full-time rate. The 28.68% employer rate applies for 2026/27 and is due to fall to 17.68% from April 2027. This is an information tool, not financial advice. Your payslip shows your exact deduction.
How tiering works, and why it's misunderstood
There are two separate things going on. The thresholds define where each tier starts and ends. The rates define what percentage you pay once you're inside one. They move independently, and on different timetables.
The rates were last changed in April 2025, when the 2020 scheme valuation pushed the top five tiers up by 0.3 percentage points (the top rate went from 11.7% to 12.0%) and left the lowest tier at 7.4%. Since then the six rates in the table have held. Only the threshold positions change year to year.
Thresholds are uplifted each April in line with the previous September's CPI. For 2026/27 that figure was 3.8%, so every band boundary moved up by 3.8%. Your salary would have to rise by more than 3.8% to push you over the top of your band, and most standard pay awards sit at or around that level. For most members, the gap between their pay and the top of their tier is about the same as last year.
The upshot: if you got a standard award this year, you almost certainly stayed in the same tier. Your gross pay rose; your contribution rate didn't budge. A fair amount of annual coverage of "Teachers' Pension contribution changes" republishes the table and leaves it there. For most members in 2026/27, the rate you were paying in March is the rate you're paying now.
What changed from 2025/26
Short version: for 2026/27 the rates didn't change, the thresholds did. Every rate in the table (7.4% to 12.0%) is the same rate that applied in 2025/26. What moved is where each band starts and ends. All six bands shifted up by 3.8%, in line with September 2025 CPI, so the salary you need to reach each tier is a little higher this year than last.
Here are the two years side by side.
| Tier | 2025/26 salary band | 2026/27 salary band | Rate (both years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Up to £34,872.99 | Up to £36,198.99 | 7.4% |
| 2 | £34,873.00 to £46,943.99 | £36,199.00 to £48,727.99 | 8.9% |
| 3 | £46,944.00 to £55,660.99 | £48,728.00 to £57,776.99 | 9.9% |
| 4 | £55,661.00 to £73,768.99 | £57,777.00 to £76,572.99 | 10.5% |
| 5 | £73,769.00 to £100,590.99 | £76,573.00 to £104,413.99 | 11.6% |
| 6 | £100,591.00 and above | £104,414.00 and above | 12.0% |
One date to keep straight, because it trips people up. The rate rise that some teachers still remember happened in April 2025, not this year. That was when the top five tiers went up by 0.3 percentage points. The 2026/27 change is a pure threshold uplift, nothing more. If your contribution looks higher this year, it's because your salary went up, not because the rate did.
Worked examples
A classroom teacher on £38,000
A classroom teacher earns £38,000. That sits in Tier 2, so the rate is 8.9%. The annual contribution is £3,382, about £282 a month before tax relief.
Tier 2 in 2026/27 runs from £36,199 to £48,727.99. A standard award of around 3.8% takes the salary to roughly £39,444, still comfortably inside Tier 2. Same tier, same 8.9%. The contribution rises to about £3,511, but only because gross pay rose. The rate is unchanged.
A part-time teacher on 0.5 of a full-time post
A teacher works half a timetable. The full-time-equivalent salary for the post is £48,000, but the actual salary for the job is £24,000.
The tier is set on the actual salary, not the full-time-equivalent. So this teacher is in Tier 1 at 7.4%, paying about £1,776 a year. If the tier were set on the £48,000 full-time figure, they'd be in Tier 2 at 8.9%, and the rate alone would cost them roughly £360 more a year on the same actual earnings. The actual-salary basis is a common point of confusion on payslips.
A teacher crossing a tier boundary on promotion
A teacher on £48,000 is in Tier 2 at 8.9%, paying about £4,272 a year. A promotion to a TLR post or middle-leadership role takes the salary to £53,000.
£53,000 clears the Tier 2 ceiling of £48,727.99 and lands in Tier 3, where the rate is 9.9%. The contribution becomes about £5,247. Part of that rise is the extra pay; part is the higher rate. A jump like this, promotion money rather than a standard award, is what moves people up a tier in 2026/27. The members who cross usually had pay sitting near the top of a band already, or a change of role or hours mid-year.
Will my pay rise push me up a band?
For most people on a standard award: no. The thresholds moved up by 3.8%, so the ceilings are about as far from most members' salaries as they were last year. Crossing a boundary in 2026/27 takes something more than a standard award: a promotion, a TLR or leadership post, a move up the pay range, or a significant change in contracted hours.
The check is simple. Find your new salary in the table above. If you land in the same tier as last year, your rate is the same. If you're in a higher tier, your rate has moved, and your payslip should show it.
Because the tier tracks your actual monthly pay, mid-year changes are where surprises come from. A new TLR payment, a step up in leadership, or a change in contracted hours partway through the year can move you across a boundary at that point, not from the following April. If you've had a mid-year change and aren't sure which rate is being applied, ask your payroll team to confirm.
Teachers' Pension employer contributions 2026/27: who pays what
Your own contribution is only part of what goes into the scheme for you. You pay your tier rate, somewhere between 7.4% and 12.0% depending on your salary. Your employer (the school, academy trust, or local authority) pays a flat 28.68% of your salary on top for 2026/27, the same rate whatever you earn. In every tier that's far more than you pay yourself, usually two to four times as much.
Here's how it splits on a £40,000 salary (Tier 2, 8.9%).
| Who pays | Rate | On £40,000 a year |
|---|---|---|
| You | 8.9% | £3,560 |
| Your employer | 28.68% | £11,472 |
| Total into the scheme | 37.58% | £15,032 |
One more change is already scheduled. Following the 2024 scheme valuation, the employer contribution rate is due to fall from 28.68% to 17.68% from 1 April 2027, and then hold at that level until 2031. That's an employer-side change, driven by the discount rate the Treasury uses to value the scheme. It does not change what members pay, and it does not change the pension you build up. For the detail on why the employer rate is falling, see why public sector pension employer contributions are set to fall in 2027.
What your contributions actually buy
Member contributions don't go into a pot in your name. They fund the scheme alongside employer contributions. In return you get a guaranteed defined-benefit pension, calculated by formula, payable for life, with no investment risk and no annuity to buy. You build up a pension of 1/57 of your pensionable earnings each year under the career-average arrangement, and while you're an active member every slice you've built up is revalued at CPI plus 1.6% each April. With September 2025 CPI at 3.8%, that active revaluation rate is 5.4% for 2026/27.
Even at the top rate of 12.0%, that package is hard to match privately: no fund management fees, no sequence-of-returns risk, and an employer paying in 28.68% on your behalf this year. For how accrual builds into an actual pension figure over a career, see the Teachers' Pension Scheme guide.
Common questions
Is my contribution rate based on my actual pay or the full-time-equivalent?
Your actual salary for the job. Teachers' Pensions sets the tier "with reference to the member's annual salary rate for a particular employment, rather than the full-time equivalent rate for it." If you work part-time, your rate is based on what you actually earn, not on what a full-time post would pay. Because it tracks your actual monthly pay, it can move between tiers during the year if your pay changes, through overtime, a TLR payment, or a change in hours.
Do I pay tax on my contributions?
Pension contributions come off your gross pay before income tax is calculated, so you get full relief at your marginal rate. At 20%, an 8.9% gross contribution costs you 7.12% in take-home terms. At 40%, it costs 5.34%. The higher your tax rate, the lower the real cost of being in the scheme. National Insurance still applies to the pay in the normal way.
What does my employer contribute?
The employer contribution rate for the Teachers' Pension Scheme is 28.68% of your salary for 2026/27, on top of your own contribution. That is due to fall to 17.68% from 1 April 2027 following the 2024 valuation, and then hold until 2031. It's an employer-side change: it doesn't affect what you pay or the pension you build. It's not money you can access. It's what funds the pension promise.
Have the contribution rates changed for 2026/27?
No. The six rates (7.4%, 8.9%, 9.9%, 10.5%, 11.6%, 12.0%) are unchanged for 2026/27. The last time the rates changed was April 2025, when the top five tiers rose by 0.3 percentage points. For 2026/27 only the salary thresholds moved, up by 3.8% in line with September 2025 CPI.
Can I pay in more to build a bigger pension?
Yes. Alongside the standard tiered contribution, the scheme lets you buy extra in a few ways: a faster accrual rate (1/55, 1/50 or 1/45 instead of the standard 1/57), Additional Pension, or Buying Out the standard actuarial reduction for taking benefits early. Each has its own cost and rules. This page covers the tiered contribution only; the options sit in the Teachers' Pension Scheme guide, and any decision to buy extra is one to take with regulated advice or MoneyHelper.
Is the Capita to TCS handover going to change how I pay?
Not for members, on what has been published so far. The scheme's administration is moving from Capita to Tata Consultancy Services, expected in late 2026 after two delays. Teachers' Pensions has said the change "will have no impact on Scheme benefits." The detail published to date is employer and payroll facing; no change to how members check or pay contributions has been announced. Your contributions still come out through your employer's payroll in the usual way.
Where do I find my personal contribution rate?
Your payslip should show both the amount deducted and the percentage applied. You can also see your record through your Teachers' Pensions online account. If the rate doesn't match what you'd expect from the calculator or the table above, raise it with your payroll team. Contribution errors do happen, and they're much easier to sort out quickly than to unwind months later.
Pension Plain's take
The threshold-versus-rate distinction is one of those small bits of scheme architecture that matters more than it looks. In 2026/27 it's the difference between "my contribution went up because the rates moved" (which isn't what happened) and "my contribution went up because my salary went up but the rate held" (which is what almost everyone is actually experiencing). Once you've seen the distinction, the table reads very differently.
The other point is the value-for-money question. At Tier 6 the headline rate of 12.0% looks steep. Even after 40% tax relief it's still 7.2% of gross pay. But for that you get an annual accrual of 1/57 of pensionable earnings, revalued at CPI plus 1.6% while you're active, with no investment risk on your side, and an employer paying in 28.68% on top this year. There aren't many private arrangements that come close. The falling employer rate from April 2027 changes the cost to the taxpayer, not the value of the pension you're building.
Information, not advice. This article describes the Teachers' Pension Scheme contribution tiers as published for the 2026/27 scheme year. It isn't regulated financial advice and doesn't take account of your personal circumstances. Contribution rates and thresholds are correct as of July 2026 but are reviewed each April. For your personal contribution rate, check your payslip or your Teachers' Pensions account. Pension Plain is not authorised or regulated by the FCA.
Key official sources
- Teachers' Pensions: Calculating contributions (the published 2026/27 contribution tier table and the salary-basis wording).
- Teachers' Pensions: Understand how much you'll pay (member-facing contributions guide).
- Teachers' Pensions: employer contribution change from 1 April 2027 (the 28.68% to 17.68% employer rate change).
- GOV.UK: reasons for the 2025 member contribution rate changes (background to the April 2025 rate change).
- Pension Plain: Teachers' Pension Scheme: the plain-English guide (full mechanics, accrual, retirement, McCloud).
- MoneyHelper (free, impartial pension guidance).