Modern work pensions are essentially cheap investment products provided and subsidised by employers.

It's worth exploring what they can do for you - including how much free money you can earn, and some obscure and surprising add-on benefits.

Auto enrolment into work pensions takes the hassle out of saving for retirement, and more of us are taking advantage than ever before, but you could be missing a trick or two by not looking any further than that.

We will start by running through the obvious perks, like the cash thrown your way by employers and the Government, and then flag up some of the less well known benefits of work pensions below. 

Free money

Employer and Government cash: You get free handouts for saving into a pension.

The money you put into your pot is topped up by your employer and the Government.

And while employers are not as generous as they were to staff in traditional final salary schemes, they still give a significant boost to retirement savings.

Under auto enrolment, employers are required to put a minimum of 3 per cent of your earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 into your pension. Tax relief from the Government provides another 1 per cent.

You must put in at least 4 per cent on your own behalf, and if you opt out all the above is lost.

To gain this money and protect your future, you therefore shouldn't opt out of your work pension unless you are severely strapped for cash, and struggling to pay essential bills.

Matched contributions: Extra top-ups are frequently available, particularly from large employers.

For example, an employer might automatically match 3 per cent of your earnings as its minimum contribution to your pension already.

But it might be willing to make 4 per cent, 5 per cent or 6 per cent in matching contributions if you opt to save a higher proportion of your income.

If you can afford to do this, you will also receive more pension tax relief from the Government than you would have done on the extra money saved towards retirement.

So it can be advantageous to divert savings to your pension to get this extra employer money, rather than sticking it in a cash Isa or other account - although it does mean you will be locking it up until retirement rather than having readier access to your funds.

Personal contributions: Even after you have maxed out your employer's matched contributions, you will carry on benefiting from free Government top-ups.

There is a relatively generous annual ceiling on how much you can pay into your pension and get tax relief - the equivalent of your annual salary, up to a maximum of £60,000.

The rules are more complicated for higher earners, whose pension annual allowance is 'tapered' down.

Many people concerned about the inflation threat to their savings might be considering whether to put any spare money in an investment rather than a cash Isa right now.

A simple and potentially cheaper option is to top up your work pension fund instead.

Our pensions columnist, former Pensions Minister Steve Webb, says regarding whether it is better to put spare savings into a work pension or open an investment Isa, that there are broadly three advantages to opting for the pension: 

- Government and employer top-ups

- Tthe opportunity to withdraw a 25 per cent tax-free lump sum when you decided to retire

- Lower investment charges which are capped at 0.75 per cent on 'default' funds and can be even lower.

Higher rate tax relief: Pensions tax relief allows everyone to save for retirement out of untaxed income.

That means you get a bigger sweetener the more you earn.

The rebate is based on people's income tax rates of 20 per cent, 40 per cent or 45 per cent, which tilts the system in favour of the better-off because they pay more tax.

Speculation about a Treasury raid on these tax breaks for higher earners never entirely goes away, but it hasn't happened yet.

Meanwhile, there can be some extra admin for higher earners you need to know about.

Depending on your work scheme,  you might have to claim higher rate relief back yourself via a self-assessment tax return.

Even if you are in a pension scheme where higher rate relief is added automatically on your regular contributions, lump sum personal contributions probably won't be covered by that.

In that case, you will also have to fill in a self-assessment form in order to get the money you are owed in the form of a cash rebate. 

But instead of making a lump sum payment into a pension, you could whack up the percentage contribution level out of your earnings for a month or so.

You will need to be prepared to take the temporary hit to your monthly salary- and just remember to adjust the contribution level down again before it harms your everyday finances. But it is a low-hassle, alternative way to bump up your pension.

Well paid workers might benefit from higher rate tax relief while working, but at retirement can take 25 per cent of their pot tax-free, and then might only have to pay income tax on withdrawals of the rest at the basic rate.

Handy perks

Salary sacrifice: Arrangements like this are a nice little earner for many workers and their employers. They are essentially a legal way to dodge National Insurance payments.

Employers allow staff to take a supposed 'pay cut', but the money gets ploughed into their pension or put towards some other benefit like childcare or an electric vehicle instead, and both sides pay less NI as a result.

Bonus sacrifice works in roughly the same way, if you receive such payouts from your employer.

The Government is cracking down on the amount workers can pay into their pensions via salary sacrifice. Contributions made via these schemes without incurring NI contributions will be capped at £2,000 a month from April 2029.

But anyone who has an employer that offers these schemes can still make full use of them by making uncapped contributions before it’s too late – and potentially boost their pension by hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Child benefit: This is reduced for those earning £60,000-plus a year, or wiped out entirely for those earning £80,000-plus - something officially known as the 'high income child benefit charge' or HICBC.

The rules introduced in 2013, initially with a tapering off between £50,000 and £60,000, came under fire from the start. 

This is because they penalise families in which one parent earns just over the threshold, but those where both parents earn just under that amount still get child benefit paid in full.

Putting extra into your pension could push you back below the threshold for claiming child benefit.

Note that even if you don't qualify for child benefit, it is important to register for it anyway and tick the box saying you are not eligible for the payments. 

Parents who have failed to do this have lost valuable credits towards their state pension. 

The last Government promised to fix this anomaly and the Labour Government has confirmed the plan to introduce new National Insurance credits from April 2027, but no details are available yet and so it it is better to register for child benefit.

Whether you qualify for the payments or not, make sure a non-earning parent claims the child benefit as they are the ones who need the state pension credits. However, if the 'wrong' parent has claimed, there is a way to swap the credits between partners.

Financial advice: If you want to get financial advice but baulk at the cost, look into saving some money by doing it via your work pension.

The pension advice allowance lets you take up to £500 out of your pot tax-free up to three times during your lifetime to cover the cost of advice.

You can do this at any age and regardless of your income, but just once per tax year.

Cheap and easy investing

Capped charges: Saving into a work pension is a simple entry point into the world of investing, if you don't want the hassle of doing it yourself.

It's often cheaper too, because employers have better bargaining power to get fund costs down than individuals putting money into investment Isas or personal pensions.

If you keep your pension in your employer's 'default' or standard investment fund, the charge is capped at 0.75 per cent.

Default funds and the alternatives: Staff are automatically opted into their employer's pension scheme unless they actively object, and their money is placed in its default fund.

It stays there if they don't choose any of the alternatives usually available, and the vast majority stick with the one-size-fits all fund.

Default funds tend to play investments safe because employers don't want to get blamed for costly mistakes that endanger their staff's pension savings.

Most such funds are trackers, although some are actively run to a certain extent.

Trackers passively match the performance of one or a selection of the world's stock markets, and are cheap to own.

Active fund managers pick investments to outdo the market but often underperform despite charging a lot more. 

Tools and calculators: A dedicated pension scheme website with an array of tools and research apps comes pretty much as standard these days.

Once you have set up the log-in, it's easy to check how much you have in your fund and other basic information.

How much you want to tinker with the rest of what's on offer - this might include sliders, quizzes, videos and so on - depends on your level of interest and patience.

Merging old pensions: Savers tend to collect a string of pension pots during their working lives, and schemes make it fairly easy to roll them up if you choose, though there can be drawbacks.

A tidying up exercise can reduce fees and paperwork and bring new investment options but you can lose valuable benefits. We looked here at the advantages of merging pension pots and the traps to avoid.

Less well known benefits

Bankruptcy protection: If this happens to you, savings in a pension scheme can be retained, though they might be up for grabs once you reach retirement.

Death benefits: Your pension scheme will offer the option to name beneficiaries and it is sensible to do this and keep them updated, especially after important changes in your life like getting married or divorced.

Ultimately though the decision on who inherits typically rests with your scheme.

If you decide to stay invested and use income drawdown to fund your retirement, beneficiaries either pay no tax if the owner dies before age 75, or their normal income tax rate if they are 75 or over. 

Meanwhile, the Government plans to make defined contribution pensions liable for inheritance tax like other assets such as property, savings and investments starting from April 2027.

At the same time, discretionary death benefits are also going to be brought into estates for inheritance tax purposes.

Inheritance planning is complex so think about getting financial advice on this issue if your estate is large enough to be liable for inheritance tax. 

Not earning or now self employed: Non-earners can put up to £2,880 a year into their retirement pot, to gain a maximum £720 or 20 per cent in tax relief from the Government.

You might also be able to keep on saving into your old workplace pension after you become self-employed.

Free help, seminars and mid life MOTs: It is worth browsing your employer's pension site for offers of help like this, as such general guidance can be useful, especially if you don't have the means or desire to pay for financial advice.

Arranging care: This is not something you would think your pension provider would offer help with, but Legal & General for example has a confidential guidance and advocacy service for people with a care need.

This is why it's worth looking into every area of what your work pension provider will do for you, in case something like this turns up when you need it.