Interactive Tools · Updated 2026-06-17
UK Pension Tools
PlainPension's interactive tools are designed to be honest, sourced, and free. Every calculation cites the underlying DWP rate-uprating order, HMRC Pensions Tax Manual paragraph, MoneyHelper guidance article, or FCA Handbook reference. No accounts, no upsells, no calculator-input monetisation. All four tools below are usable from any device and respect Consent Mode v2.
What these tools do
Four free tools that turn the UK pension rulebook into your numbers: a full projection calculator, a wrapper comparator, a browsable catalogue, and a voluntary-NI break-even table — every figure sourced and dated, nothing tracked.
- Tools live
- 4
- Accounts required
- None
- Calculator runs
- On-device
No upsells, no calculator-input monetisation, no affiliate steering — see “what we will never build” below.
UK Pension Calculator
Project your State Pension, workplace DC pot, and SIPP balance year by year. Rules-based, deterministic, on-device — no account, no upload, no tracking. Sources every figure to the DWP rate-uprating order or HMRC Pensions Tax Manual paragraph.
Covers: New State Pension forecast (35/35ths rule) · Workplace DC projection (employer match + tax relief) · SIPP top-up scenario · 25% tax-free lump sum · Total retirement income vs a 4% drawdown
Open UK Pension Calculator →Pension Wrapper Comparison
Side-by-side comparison of every UK pension wrapper PlainPension covers. Annual allowance, access age, tax-free lump sum, employer-match minimum, FSCS protection, best-for / not-for editorial guidance — all sourced and dated.
Covers: State Pension · Workplace Defined Contribution · Workplace Defined Benefit · Self-Invested Personal Pension · Stakeholder Pension
Open Pension Wrapper Comparison →Browse the Wrapper Catalogue
Paginated listing of every UK pension wrapper PlainPension covers with the key numbers and the source link. Useful for working through the catalogue methodically or for citation.
Covers: 5 wrappers — paginated 10 per page, with best-for and not-for short editorial guidance per entry.
Open Browse the Wrapper Catalogue →Voluntary NI Break-Even Tool
Live SSR analysis: cost of buying one extra qualifying NI year via Class 3 voluntary contributions, against the 1/35th additional full New State Pension income that year unlocks. Year-by-year break-even table from the ni_qualifying_years and state_pension_rates tables.
Covers: Class 2 (self-employed) vs Class 3 (universal) voluntary contribution rates · 1/35th annual uplift derived from State Pension annual ÷ 35 · Break-even period in years of pension receipt
Open Voluntary NI Break-Even Tool →What we will never build
Some pension tools look free but quietly steer the saver toward an affiliated provider — a SIPP platform that pays a per-account referral fee, a workplace-consolidation tool that hands warm leads to an FCA-regulated firm, or a “risk-tolerance” quiz that emails a marketing list. PlainPension does not, and will not, do any of this. Our tools are transparent rules-applications — they show you the maths of the UK pension system. Where a tool surfaces a decision (annuity vs drawdown, Class 3 voluntary contribution arithmetic, employer-match leverage) we explain the trade-off and direct you to MoneyHelper's free Pension Wise service or an FCA-regulated independent financial adviser for the actual recommendation.
Suggesting a new tool
If there is a calculation you find yourself doing by hand against PlainPension's rates or comparison tables, email hello@plainpension.co.uk with the inputs and outputs you would want. We build editorially — every tool we ship has to clear a “could a competent saver work this out from the published rules in under 20 minutes” bar before we automate it. Tools that fail that bar typically turn into guides instead.