What happens to your pension if you’re on sick leave

The amount you pay into your pension is usually based on how much you earn. 

If you’re off sick and receiving sick pay (including Statutory Sick Pay from the government), your total pension contributions will either:

• stay the same if your sick pay is equal to your usual wages, or

• reduce if your sick pay is lower than your usual wages. 

If you stop receiving sick pay, you and your employer will stop paying into your pension. If this happens, your pension provider will continue to manage the money or benefits you’ve already built up until you’re ready to take your pension. 

Your contributions should restart automatically if you go back to work or start getting sick pay again.

While you’re working, you’ll usually pay National Insurance (NI) contributions from your wages. These decide how much State Pension you’ll get – you typically need at least 35 years of contributions to get the full amount.

If your wages drop to less than £125 a week (for the 2025/26 tax year) you might need to claim NI credits instead. 

You’ll automatically get these credits if you’re self-employed or receiving certain benefits like Universal Credit. But in other cases, including if you’re only getting Statutory Sick Pay, you’ll need to claim. 

See National Insurance creditsOpens in a new window on GOV.UK for more information. 

If you don’t get sick pay, paying into your pension might not feel like a priority. But if you reduce or stop your pension contributions, you’ll usually have less money to live on when you retire.

Before changing your pension contributions, here’s what you can do:

• Check if ‘waiver of premium’ is included with your pension. This means your pension contributions will be paid for you if you’re unable to pay them due to an illness, disability or serious injury. This is typically an optional extra you could choose when you first set up your pension.

• If you have an income protection insurance policy, check if you can make a claim. If you can, this will likely pay you a portion of your normal wages. 

• Use our Benefits calculator to check if you’re claiming everything you’re eligible for, including Universal Credit, grants and discounts.

If you still want to reduce your pension contributions, ask your provider if there’s a minimum amount you need to contribute to keep your pension active.

If you can’t afford this, you might have to opt out of your pension to stop paying in. This means your pension money and benefits you’ve already built up will stay within the scheme, but you’d need to rejoin again to continue paying in.

If you reduce or stop your pension contributions, remember to review the amount you pay in if you return to work or your pay increases. 

Paying into your pension has many benefits, including investment growth and tax relief. Tax relief means the money you’d normally pay in Income Tax is added to your pension instead. 

Our Pensions calculator will show you your estimated retirement income based on your current contributions, and how it would change if you increased or reduced them.

If you’re too ill to go back to work, you can ask your pension provider or the trustees if you’re able to get your pension early. 

For more information, see our full guide on Ill-health retirement.