Workplace pension auto-enrolment: the employer's duties
Who you must enrol, when your duties start, minimum contributions, postponement, opt-outs, the declaration of compliance and the three-yearly re-enrolment.
Reviewed September 2026. Guidance, not legal advice: employment law moves, so check the current position before relying on any of it.
Every employer with at least one member of staff has automatic enrolment duties from the day that person starts. There is no small-employer exemption, and the Pensions Regulator does not wait to be asked. The duties are not complicated, but they are unforgiving of the two things small firms do: forgetting the declaration of compliance, and forgetting that re-enrolment comes round every three years.
This guide covers who to enrol, the contribution minimums, postponement, opt-outs, the paperwork, and what the Regulator does when it is missed. Contribution percentages are statutory and stable; the earnings trigger and thresholds are reviewed each tax year and are not quoted here.
Your duties start date
Your duties begin on the day your first worker starts. For a new employer that is the first payday; you should have a scheme chosen before then. The Regulator writes to new employers with a letter code; you will need it for the declaration.
From that day you assess every worker on every payday and act on what you find.
Who gets what
Workers fall into three groups, assessed each pay period by age and earnings:
- Eligible jobholders: aged 22 to State Pension age, working in the UK, earning above the earnings trigger (£10,000 a year at the time of writing; check the current figure). You must enrol them automatically and pay employer contributions.
- Non-eligible jobholders: aged 16 to 74 and earning above the lower threshold but below the trigger, or aged 16 to 21 or over State Pension age and earning above the trigger. They can opt in; if they do, you must enrol them and contribute.
- Entitled workers: aged 16 to 74 and earning at or below the lower threshold. They can ask to join a scheme; you must arrange it but need not contribute.
Minimum contributions
The statutory minimum is 8% of qualifying earnings, of which the employer must pay at least 3%. Qualifying earnings are earnings between the lower and upper thresholds, which move with the tax year. Many schemes instead use a certified basis (for example a percentage of basic pay) that meets or beats the minimum; your scheme provider will tell you which you are on.
Contributions must reach the scheme by the 22nd of the month following deduction (19th if paying by cheque), and the first contributions after enrolment have a slightly longer window. Late payment is reported to the Regulator by the scheme.
Postponement
You can postpone assessing a worker for up to three months from their start date, from the duties start date, or from the date they first become eligible. It is useful for probation periods, short contracts and casuals. You must write to the worker within six weeks of the postponement date telling them it has been postponed and that they can opt in meanwhile. Postponement does not delay the duty to enrol someone who asks to opt in.
Opting out and stopping contributions
An enrolled worker has one month from enrolment (or from receiving the enrolment information, if later) to opt out, using the scheme's form or process. If they do, contributions already deducted are refunded through payroll. After the month, they can stop contributing but the money stays in the scheme. You must never encourage, induce or reward opting out; that is an offence and the Regulator prosecutes.
The declaration of compliance
Within five months of your duties start date you must complete a declaration of compliance online with the Regulator, confirming what you did: the scheme, how many were enrolled, postponed, already in a scheme. Missing it is the single commonest failure. You must re-declare within five months of each re-enrolment date.
Re-enrolment every three years
Every three years, on a date you choose within a six-month window around the anniversary of your duties start date, you must assess everyone who opted out or stopped contributing more than 12 months earlier and re-enrol those who are eligible. They can opt out again. Then re-declare. The Regulator writes to remind you; diarise it anyway.
Information to workers
Within six weeks of enrolment you must write to the worker with the prescribed information: that they have been enrolled, the scheme, contribution levels, how to opt out. Postponement notices, opt-in rights and re-enrolment letters have their own content requirements. Scheme providers supply templates; use them.
Enforcement
The Pensions Regulator issues compliance notices, then fixed penalty notices, then escalating daily penalties scaled to the size of the workforce. It also publishes details of employers fined. Wilful failure to enrol is a criminal offence. In practice, enforcement almost always starts with a missed declaration or a scheme reporting late contributions, both of which are avoidable with a diary.
The checklist
- Scheme in place before the first payday; letter code from the Regulator to hand.
- Every payday: assess age and earnings; enrol eligible jobholders; act on opt-in requests.
- Postponement notices within six weeks, if you postpone.
- Enrolment information to each enrolled worker within six weeks.
- Contributions paid by the 22nd of the following month.
- Declaration of compliance within five months of the duties start date.
- Re-enrolment date diarised three years on; re-declaration within five months of it.
- Never suggest, reward or pressure anyone to opt out.
What the law says
- Pensions Act 2008 Part 1: the employer duties, including ss.3 to 9 (enrolment, opt-in, joining), s.54 (inducements).
- Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) Regulations 2010: postponement, information, declaration timing, re-enrolment.
- Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order, made each tax year: the trigger and thresholds.
- Pensions Act 2008 ss.35 to 45: compliance and penalty notices.
Questions people ask
I only employ one person. Do the duties apply?
Yes, from their first day. The only case with no duties is a director-only company with no employment contracts, or a business with no workers at all; you still tell the Regulator that is your position.
Can I use postponement to avoid enrolling casuals who leave within three months?
That is what it is for, and it is lawful. You must still send the postponement notice, and anyone who asks to opt in during postponement must be enrolled.
An employee wants to opt out because they need the money. Can I help them?
You can tell them the process exists and where the form is. You cannot encourage it, suggest it, or make anything conditional on it. Let the scheme handle the conversation.
What if I missed re-enrolment last year?
Do it now, backdated to the date it should have happened, pay the missed contributions, and declare. The Regulator treats a self-reported late correction very differently from one it finds.
The admin this guide describes, done for you
Work-Lynx holds the records, calculates the entitlements, drafts the letters and reminds you of the dates: 49 UK policies, GPS clock-in, rotas, leave, timesheets, payslips and Employ AI for the questions in between. £2.50 a month plus £1 per employee, 14 days free, no card.
Start free trial