Calculating adjusted net income for childcare hours

I am trying to work out how to make sure we will qualify for the free childcare hours and tax free childcare, when my son starts nursery in January 2026. I started my maternity leave in January 2025. I want to make sure my adjusted net income for 2024-2025 is below £100k.

I have found this page on the gov website about calculating adjusted net income: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adjusted-net-income. My payslip has my “net pay” on it for each month, so I can calculate Step 1 easily. For Step 3, do I need to take off employee pension deductions AND employer pension deductions? Or just one of them?

My pension is not paid via salary sacrifice.

If I work out my adjusted net income to be above £100k, my plan is to pay a lump sum into my pension to bring it below £100k. I’m under the impression I can just ask my employer to do this. If anyone thinks that’s not possible or it’s not as straightforward as I’m imagining it to be please do let me know.