Methodology and data sources.

Every calculation on Pension Bible can be reproduced from public sources. This page explains where the numbers come from, the assumptions we make, and how often we update them.

Editorial standards

Pension Bible uses a brand editorial byline rather than publishing a private individual's legal name. We do not use fake expert personas or claim FCA-authorised advice. Trust comes from transparent sourcing, reproducible assumptions, and clear limits on what the site can and cannot tell you.

• We prefer primary sources: HMRC, DWP/GOV.UK, ONS, FCA, scheme administrators, and provider fee schedules.
• We separate factual explanations from personal recommendations. Pension Bible does not tell readers to transfer, consolidate, buy, sell, opt out, or choose a provider.
• We show key assumptions near calculators and link back to this methodology where a calculation depends on tax-year data.

What this site is

Pension Bible is a volunteer project, built to give UK pension savers a free, plain-English starting point. We are not part of any affiliate scheme, we do not take payment from providers, and we earn nothing from any link on this site.

We make best efforts to keep tax bands, statutory limits, and provider fees current — but rules and fees change, sometimes between our scheduled refreshes. If you intend to act on any figure here, please verify it against the primary source linked below before you do.

Tax year

All calculators use the 2026/27 UK tax bands unless otherwise stated. Tax bands are reviewed in April when a new tax year begins.

Sources

• Income tax bands and rates: gov.uk/income-tax-rates
• National Insurance rates: gov.uk/national-insurance-rates-letters
• Student loan thresholds: gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan
• Pension provider fees: each provider's published fee schedule, cited and dated on the provider's page. Full dataset available at /data/uk-pension-fees.

Assumptions

• Salary calculators assume your salary is your only source of UK taxable income, and do not account for benefits in kind or dividends.
• Personal allowance is tapered above £100,000 (£1 of allowance lost per £2 of income above £100k), as per HMRC rules.
• Compound projections use a flat nominal growth rate (typically 5%) unless otherwise stated. This is illustrative — real returns will vary, and inflation will erode purchasing power.
• Scottish income tax bands differ from rUK. Calculators that quote tax flag this in their caveats.

Updates

Tax bands are reviewed every April. Provider fee data is re-verified quarterly. If you spot an error, email us at hello@pensionbible.co.uk and we'll fix it.

Corrections

If a reader flags an error, we check the claim against the relevant primary source, update the affected page or calculation, and refresh the reviewed date where the correction changes a material figure. Send corrections to hello@pensionbible.co.uk.