If you pay into an occupational or personal pension you should enter the actual amount you pay in. This will be either the amount deducted from your gross or net income and paid in before you receive it, or the amount you pay in yourself. 

Fifty percent of contributions made to a personal or occupational pension are disregarded when calculating income for: 

• Housing Benefit
• Job Seekers Allowance
• Employment Support Allowance
• Income Support

For Universal Credit all one hundred percent of contributions made to a personal or occupational pension are disregarded when calculating income.

Enter the full amount of any payments and the calculator will automatically work out the disregard. You should not take off pension contributions from the amount entered under 'Net earnings different from the figure above'. You should also not take off other deductions such as union subs, fines and other deductions from earnings.

Do not include pension contributions made by employers. All employer pension contributions are ignored completely in benefits and should not be included in the amount entered for gross earnings or anywhere else in the calculator.

For more information on tax credits see pension contributions and tax credits