Maximising Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) for 2025-2026

With the tax year end fast approaching many members look to maximise their AVCs under the TfL Pension Fund.

The maximum you can pay in AVCs to the Fund is 15 per cent of gross earnings less your standard Pension Fund contributions.

If you are considering maximising your AVCs before the tax year end you need to make sure you allow enough time for your request to be processed. The pensions team will need to check that the amount you are planning to pay does not take your total contributions above the maximum limit and the payroll team will then need to update the payroll system to amend your AVC deduction.

Alternatively, if you prefer to estimate your own maximum AVC amount before submitting a request, you can follow the steps below:

1. Check your year-to-date pay (A) on your latest payslip.
2. Estimate your remaining pay for the rest of the tax year (B), by multiplying your gross 4-weekly pay by the number of remaining pay periods (excluding any overtime).
3. Calculate your total gross pay for the tax year (A + B), then multiply by 15 per cent (C). This is the maximum you can pay into the Fund, including both your main DB scheme and AVC contributions.
4. Check your payslip for your year-to-date DB and AVC contributions (D).
5. Estimate your remaining DB and AVC contributions for the rest of the tax year (E) based on your current contribution rates (please note that your DB contribution rate will have changed from January).
6. Your remaining AVC scope is:

C - D - E

Please note that if you overstate the additional amount you can contribute towards your AVCs, the Fund Office will reduce the amount to the maximum permitted.

The AVC form for change of payment is here.

In addition, you'll need to consider the impact to your overall pension benefits as well as the impact on your pension input and Annual Allowance for the tax year.

For more information please refer to your annual benefit statement and the Guide to Additional Voluntary Contributions. The final dates by which we must receive any requests to meet the payroll cut off dates are as follows:

Payroll Group	Cut off Date
Payroll group 10	Tuesday 3 March 2026
Payroll group 11	Tuesday 3 March 2026
Payroll group 15	Tuesday 3 March 2026
Payroll group 20	Tuesday 17 March 2026
Payroll group 25	Tuesday 17 March 2026
Payroll group 42	Thursday 5 March 2026
Payroll group 61	Wednesday 25 March 2026

If you are not sure which payroll group you are paid under, please check your latest payslip.

For further information, contact the Fund Office on 01737 235 298.