Self-invested personal pension (SIPP)

All personal pensions are defined contribution schemes, meaning returns are based on how much is paid in, how the investments perform over time, and what charges are paid. A SIPP is a type of personal pension which usually offers you a much wider choice of investments. 

For more information, take a look at our article on the differences between a SIPP and other types of personal pension.

Your employer adds to your workplace pension, helping to build up your pot. A SIPP isn’t meant as a replacement for this, but can be used alongside it. Find out more here.

Before you take out a SIPP, it's worth checking whether you might be better off paying more into your workplace pension because your employer might put in more too.

There's no limit on how many SIPPs you can have, but there is an annual limit on how much you can save and a lifetime limit on how much can be paid tax-free when you take your benefits. Read more about the annual allowance and other limits and restrictions on pension savings in the questions below.

There's a limit to how much can be paid into a pension in a tax year for your benefit before you have to pay a tax charge. This maximum amount is known as your annual allowance. It applies to the total payments to all pensions you have, including workplace pensions and personal pensions (such as SIPPs) from all sources, and includes any tax relief.

Your allowance is £60,000 in this tax year. This may be lower if you've already taken money out of a pension or earn over £200,000.

Learn more about pension tax relief and allowances.

The lump sum allowance is how much you can be paid from all your pensions tax-free during your lifetime and in 2026/2027 it’s £268,275. The lump sum & death benefit allowance is the tax-free limit for payments during your lifetime and on death before aged 75 – it’s currently £1,073,100.

If you pay tax at a rate higher than basic rate, you can claim additional tax relief on your own contributions paid into SIPPs and other personal pensions. This affects you if you are a higher or additional rate tax payer in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or a higher, advanced or top-rate tax payer in Scotland. You need to put the gross value, including the tax relief claimed by the scheme, of all your contributions to personal pensions in the relevant box in your self-assessment tax return.

From the age of 55 (increasing to 57 on 6 April 2028 unless you have a protected pension age) you can take a cash lump sum, make regular withdrawals, buy a guaranteed income for life, or a bit of everything. However you take your money from your pension, 25% of your pension fund will normally be tax-free. Explore the different ways to take your money.

You and your employer can only pay into a SIPP until you turn 75, but you can transfer a pension at any age.

Eligibility

To pay into a SIPP with Aviva, you must be between the ages of 18 and 75. You must live in the UK when you open the SIPP, and you can only pay into it while you are a UK resident.  There's no upper age limit for transferring pension pots. You control how much you save and how often, and you benefit from tax relief.

Our SIPP can only accept contributions from you which qualify for tax relief. This means that their value including tax relief must be within your UK relevant earnings, or £3,600 if you earn less than that. Also, remember the annual allowance – read more in the questions above.

Minimum payments

You can start investing in our SIPP from as little as £25 a month, make a one-off payment of at least £5,000, or do a bit of both - a minimum one-off payment of £1,000 plus monthly payments of £25 or more. You can start or stop payments at any time.

Getting started

To open an account with us, you'll need a MyAviva account and to have your National Insurance number, and bank details or debit card to hand.

We’ll ask you to choose investments when you apply. If you want to decide later, that’s fine – you can pay your money into cash to start with. If you choose now and then change your mind, you can pick new ones at any time.

Carry Forward lets you use any unused pension annual allowance from the past three tax years, as long as you were in a UK‑registered pension scheme at the time. You’ll need to use this year’s allowance first, then you can use any leftover from previous years.

It doesn't apply to tax relief. You can still only claim tax relief on your contributions up to the value of your relevant UK earnings in the tax year you pay the contribution.  Carry forward is not available if you have triggered the Money Purchase Annual Allowance.

You can find out more about pension contributions and associated limits, including carry forward, here.

Yes, your employer (including a limited company of which you are a director) can make contributions into your SIPP. To set this up, you’ll need to complete an employer contribution form. Contributions can only be arranged once your SIPP account is open.

1. Download the employer contribution form.
2. Fill in your details and request your employer to fill in theirs.
3. Send your completed in form to: myinvestmentportfolio@aviva.com.

What we’ll do:

• Our team will send your employer the correct bank details and a unique reference number for their payment.
• If they want to make future one‑off payments, they can email us using the address provided and we’ll share the details and a new reference each time.
• We’ll let you know if we need anything else.