Workplace Pension/extra cash payment

Kinclad

Hi,

There may or may not be a straight forward answer to this, but appreciate anyones thoughts.

Im due an inheritance very soon, it involves a house sale so as per normal, this is taking an age to complete.

Its touch and go that i'm going to get this cash before the end of March, i had intended to make a payment of around 30K into my workplace pension with this cash. This would have resulted in overall payments to my work place pension this year being just under 60K and within my salary earned in the 2025/26 tax year.

With it now looking unlikely i will have this cash within the next 3 weeks, does it make any sense to beg/borrow (ie cash on credit card or loan etc), just to have this money to pay into my WP pension, knowing i can pay off any of these borrowings within a short period of time after?

Im keen to not miss the opportunity in this current tax year as i will also exhaust the 60K pension allowance next year through heavy salary sacrifice and further cash payments so it would literally be a missed opportunity.

I will have also exhausted my ISA allowance for this year and will also add 20K at the start of the 2026/27 tax year, so that's not a comparable alternative option that is available to me.

btw my earnings for next year willl have little to no headroom to allow carry over from previous years unused pension allowance.

Many Thanks in with any thoughts in advance,

Mark.

molerat

Do you know and understand the contribution method used for your payments into this pension ? Will they use relief at source ?

Brie

0% Money transfers from credit cards? Requesting an advance on your pay? Take the ISA money out and use that?

Marcon

Have contracts been exchanged on the sale?

Kinclad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81918712#Comment_81918712

Hi,

Based on the online option, it offered me to enter a one off personal payment option (by cheque !), but shows you some calcs and based on that payment of 30K, and it confirms a total add of £37,500.

It does ask to confirm source of payment (see below)

Thanks Mark.

Kinclad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81918721#Comment_81918721

Thanks, I wont get a advance on pay, taking out of the ISA is an option, but then im obviously not going to be able to get that ammount of money back into the ISA again.

I have adequate credit on my 2-3 cards, but not really sure how easy or how cost effective it would be to use them for this purpose.

Kinclad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81918764#Comment_81918764

Hi, unfortunately not. Latest update on an exchange date is that its a few weeks away yet. So i think im going to miss out by a matter of a few weeks.

Marcon

Hi, unfortunately not. Latest update on an exchange date is that its a few weeks away yet. So i think im going to miss out by a matter of a few weeks.

So you've not actually got any certainty that the property has been successfully sold - as the saying goes, you're nowhere until you've exchanged (or in this case the executors have).

The real problem with borrowing cash is that the sale may fall through at the last moment and you'll be left with a £30K debt to pay off, with no realistic timeframe for your inherited funds to come through. Unless…

I wont get a advance on pay, taking out of the ISA is an option, but then im obviously not going to be able to get that amount of money back into the ISA again.

You can if you use a flexible ISA*. You could:

• borrow in this tax year (not from your ISA) as close to the tax year end as possible, to minimise interest charges
• make the pension contribution before 6 April 2026 using the borrowed funds
• repay your borrowing on or very soon after 6 April 2026 using funds from a flexible ISA
• that then gives a breathing space of the rest of the tax year for the house sale to go through, at which point you could put the funds back into your ISA. More info: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/flexible-isas/
• you would still have your full 'new' ISA allowance for 2026/27.

*check with your current ISA provider if you aren't sure what you've got. If necessary you can normally transfer to a flexible ISA - but make sure the receiving ISA really is a 'flexible' ISA.

There's always a danger in the current market that the property might not sell during the 2026/27 tax year, so that's something to bear in mind. Depends how important the pension contribution is to you.

Marcon

Im keen to not miss the opportunity in this current tax year as i will also exhaust the 60K pension allowance next year through heavy salary sacrifice and further cash payments so it would literally be a missed opportunity.

Would it? Sounds as if you might have scope for carry forward if you miss the boat this year.

Brie

Adding to what Marcon has wisely said - even if the sale does go through soon how do you know when you will be paid? There may be bills to pay, executor may go on holiday, there may be a dispute about something. Could easily add months to it all.

Kinclad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81918869#Comment_81918869

That potential approach makes sense, thank you.

My ISA is a flexible Stock ISA with T212. I have seen already where i have draw out money and then subsequently seen my remaining allowance go up because of this.

I wont be able to do the full 30K, but could do 20K, i think the best 'borrowing' route would be through my bank (FD), have used them many times and the process is quite seamless (5.7%). I think i would be in for 2 months worth of interest (as they charge a months interest extra for early repayment).

I think thats a price worth paying for getting the cash into the pension (instead of it being sat in premium bonds or GIA).