HM Revenue & Customs figures showed that 30,440 individuals reported contributions exceeding their personalised annual allowance through self-assessment in 2024/25, up 22% from 24,950 people in 2023/24. In the UK the annual allowance is the maximum amount that can generally be contributed to your pensions each tax year while benefiting from tax relief. “What is slightly surprising about the figures is that the annual allowance was raised from £40,000 to £60,000 by then chancellor Jeremy Hunt in April 2023,” he said. “That, you might have expected, would lead to a fall in breaches in the subsequent years as people had more leeway to make large annual pension contributions than they had enjoyed for nearly 10 years.” He said there are many possible causes, but one plausible trigger is more earners being surprised by the tapered annual allowance.