Tips to boost your pension pot

Written by James Daley – Money expert and Founder of Fairer Finance
Reviewed by SunLife Content Team

Last updated 26 August 2026
Last reviewed 4 August 2026

8 min read

If you’re approaching retirement, it’s time to start thinking about how much income you’re going to have when you get there, and how much you’d like to have to maintain your standard of living.

If your projected retirement income is lower than you'd hoped, there are a number of options that may be worth exploring, depending on your circumstances.

On this page:

• Calculating your retirement income
• Save more money
• Defer your retirement
• Pick up part-time work
• Release the value in your home

Calculating your retirement income

The first thing to do is to work out what you’re on course to have. Start by digging up all the latest statements of any pensions you have – as these should include a pension forecast. If you can’t find the statements, pick up the phone and ask for one.

Your forecast will tell you how much you’re on course to save in your pension based on your current contributions – and will also give you an indication of the kind of income you can expect to generate.

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1. Track down your pensions

Make sure you’ve collected together details of all your occupational pensions. If you’ve worked for lots of different companies over the years, you may have several different pensions – and it’s all too easy to lose track of one or two.

A pension you paid into earlier in your career may now be worth more than you expect, depending on contributions and investment performance. If you’ve got a final salary / defined benefit pension, how much you’ll get will depend on how long you were a member of the scheme and your salary when you left the organisation.

If you’re struggling to track down a pension – perhaps because your old employer has changed their name, or you can’t remember the pension provider, there’s a free government pension tracing service which may be useful.

Once you’ve located your pensions, it is important to update your personal details with the pension provider. For example if your circumstances, name, addresses or bank details have changed, you should let your pension providers know.

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2. Find out your State Pension

You need to have worked for a total of 35 years – or have National Insurance credits for years when you were sick or caring for others – to get the full State Pension, which in 2026/27 is just over £241.30 a week.

Next, you need to find out how much you’re on track to receive from the government. You can do this using the government’s State Pension checking tool.

Once you’ve got projections for your State Pension and any company pensions, you’ll have an idea of the income you’re likely to be on track to earn in retirement.

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3. Work out your overheads

Next, have a think about what your overheads are likely to be. Perhaps you’re on track to pay off your mortgage before you retire, and you can also count the savings from not having to do the daily commute. But what will you spend more on? Perhaps you have plans to take more holidays, or to socialise more.

If there appears to be a gap between your expected retirement income and planned spending, there are a number of approaches that some people explore.

Save some more for your pension

Hopefully you’ve been saving into a pension steadily across your working life. But if you haven’t, it’s never too late to start.

Pension contributions may qualify for tax relief, subject to eligibility and HMRC rules. And, unless you’re self-employed, your employer should be adding some extra to your pot each month as well.

If you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland and are a basic-rate taxpayer, you'll normally get 20% tax relief on pension contributions.

This means that for every £80 you pay in, the government adds £20, so £100 goes into your pension. If you're a higher-rate taxpayer, you may be entitled to 40% tax relief.

In effect, a £100 pension contribution could cost you as little as £60 after claiming the additional tax relief you're entitled to. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change in future. Pension tax relief is subject to HMRC rules and limits.

If you live in Scotland, the tax thresholds are slightly different. The higher rate tax band kicks in on income over £43,663, and is charged at 42%.

The amount you may need to save for retirement will depend on factors including when you start saving, your expected retirement age, investment returns, and the retirement income you are aiming for.

If you’re lucky enough to be a member of a final salary or career average pension scheme, you may be able to pay extra into your pension to increase the amount you’ll get when you retire. These are known as 'additional voluntary contributions' (AVCs).

Less popular today, there’s also an option called 'free standing additional voluntary contributions' (FSAVCs). This option is a scheme offered by insurance companies and is not connected to your employer. The MoneyHelper website has more information on these defined benefit contribution schemes.

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Defer your retirement

You may have been dreaming of retirement at 55 or 60 since you started work.

But you may choose to remain in work for longer if you feel your retirement savings do not meet your needs.

Delaying retirement may increase retirement income for some people, as it can allow more time to save while reducing the period over which retirement savings may need to last.

If you defer your State Pension, it increases by 1% for every nine weeks that you don’t take it – which works out at nearly 6% a year. Deferring your State Pension can increase the amount you receive when you start claiming it. Whether this is beneficial depends on your circumstances, including your health, other sources of income and how long you expect to claim it for.

You need to have 35 years of National Insurance contributions to get a full State Pension, and if you haven’t quite got there, you may be able to buy back missed years.

The amount you need to pay depends on the year you’re buying back, and can be around £800 or £900. In some circumstances, making voluntary National Insurance contributions can increase State Pension entitlement. Whether this represents good value depends on various factors, including your contribution history and retirement plans. You can usually only buy back up to six years of missed contributions.

What’s the benefit of working for longer?

Deferring retirement may mean your pension savings need to support you for fewer years. If you decide to buy an annuity, the income is typically influenced by factors including age, health and prevailing annuity rates at the time of purchase.

While working till you’re 70 may not have been in your plans, if you’re fit and healthy, it can make an enormous difference to how much retirement income you end up with. And it’s worth remembering that when the State Pension was first invented – over 100 years ago – people typically only lived a few years in retirement.

These days, people are typically living 20 years – and those with the greatest longevity can end up spending more time in retirement than they did in the workforce.

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Pick up some part-time work

If you can’t stomach carrying on working full time for a few more years, then you could always start drawing your pension, and top it up with some extra part-time income.

You could do this by going part-time in your current job if your employer will let you. Or you could look at something entirely different.

Free from the shackles of your day job, there may be some part-time work which you enjoy – whether it’s becoming a local walking tour guide or doing shifts at the local DIY store.

For many people, retirement continues to be an active time, and the most important priority is being in control of their schedule.

If you don’t want to do anything that requires regular shifts, you could also look at freelance work. There are plenty of flexible jobs that can be done from your home – which allow you to work whenever the mood takes you. For example, you could do some consultancy or seasonal work.

Our how to make money in retirement guide has a lot of ideas for making some extra income.

Release the value in your home

If you own your home, another option for increasing your retirement income is to take advantage of some of the value that has built up in your property.

One option some homeowners consider is downsizing to a less expensive property – either something smaller in the same neighbourhood, or by moving to a cheaper area.

A growing number of people are moving abroad in retirement to countries like Spain or Portugal, where property prices can be cheaper and the cost of living can be lower.

Consider equity release

If you don’t want to move house, you could also consider equity release. This is a way to access cash that's tied up in your home, which you don’t have to pay back until you die or sell the property.

Equity release will reduce the value of your estate and may affect entitlement to means-tested benefits. Interest can build up quickly over time, particularly if no repayments are made.

The main type of equity release is known as a lifetime mortgage – where the interest rolls up and is added to the loan each month. You don’t need to make repayments unless you want to.

SunLife has a helpful guide where you can find out more about how equity release works and the types of schemes available.

If you live in an area where you’ve seen your property price increase significantly, you may be able to release money from your home, which you can use to top up your retirement income.

It is worth being aware that the amount available through equity release depends on factors including your age, property value and provider criteria.

It is also important you take independent financial advice if you’re considering equity release.

However you decide to boost your pension pot, make sure you have enough money to live comfortably. You’ll want to enjoy your retirement, and not end up retired and in debt.