The number of savers making contributions over the annual allowance of £60,000 surged 34% in the last tax year, according to new data.
The number of people making contributions of exactly £60,000 (the full annual allowance) also rose 12%, according to the data from Hargreaves Lansdown.
The number of people contributing exactly £10,000 last year to their SIPP rose 2% year-on-year. Hargreaves Lansdown said this could be indicative of people making use of the Money Purchase Annual Allowance.
Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the rise could also be due to the removal of the lifetime allowance.
She said: “The surge in contributions could be due to the removal of the lifetime allowance as well as the increase in the annual allowance to £60,000 in recent years. This meant that in the last year someone making full use of carry forward could contribute up to £200,000 to their pension. Someone in the same position this tax year can contribute up to £220,000.”
Contributions of exactly £3,600 per year remained flat year-on-year, but continued to be popular with savers contributing to the SIPP of a non-earning spouse or child. Non-earners can contribute £3,600 per year to a SIPP tax free.
The Hargreaves Lansdown data also showed that, as a whole, SIPP savers were relatively un-phased by the market volatility caused by President Trump’s tariffs in the first quarter of this year, although many of the tariff changes had yet to be announced in detail.
Ms Morrissey said: “The tail end of the tax year was characterised by market turbulence caused by President Trump’s tariffs. However, the data shows SIPP clients were undaunted by the volatility, with 4 April (just after President Trump's so-called Liberation Day) being the biggest day ever for SIPP contributions to the HL SIPP.
“As yet, it’s too early to see how the situation plays out but it’s good to see so far people are keeping to their plan. Pensions are a long-term investment, and you need to take a long-term approach. Knee jerk reactions such as cutting contributions or making changes to investments risk crystallising losses which makes it harder for your fund to recover when markets do settle.”