Always end up owing around 3k on tax return

I was fortunate enough that for previous couple of years I was able to earn around 130k£ gross and because good chunk of that is year-end bonus it unexpectedly puts me above the full loss of personal allowance in a tax year.

Is it then completely normal that I end up having to pay north of 3k every year, if my projected income was lower and a bonus put me out of allowance. It should quite possible, since that 12570 is now being retroactively taxed at 40% instead of 0%, quite a jump.
Is that a common thing with base + bonus of that range?

Not to go into details, but I haven't been as fortunate other years, and have almost no savings at all so I won't be willing so sacrifice that much into pension before I save some emergency money. Plus the income is highly variable, so If a year is super good, I might breach 125k even with sacrifice or if it's bad I would be left with no bonus, and having sacrificed way too much.
Anything I can do about it besides pension?

Thanks everyone in advance! I have been reading the subthread for a while, this is a truly amazing community!

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