What are the rules for workplace pensions? 

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This is a freeview 'At a glance' guide to workplace pensions and auto-enrolment. 

At a glance

• Employers are required to enrol their employees into a qualifying workplace pension scheme.
• The type of scheme can be the employer's own or the government's National Employment Savings Trust (NEST).
• These regulations were introduced from 1 October 2012 for large employers and were rolled out to all employers by April 2018.

The amount of contributions to the employee's scheme under Auto-enrolment is subject to change by government and is dependent on the levels of gross pay between a minimum and maximum earnings limit. 

Employer and employee have to pay a minimum contribution of salary, as follows:

• From 6/4/2019: 8% (employer minimum 3%)
• From 06/04/2018 to 05/04/2019: 5%.
• To 05/04/2018: 2%

Auto-enrolment provisions discourage opting out by employees, however, an employee may opt-out and back in again.

Start dates for employers:

The date on which employers were required to join depended on the number of employees:

Date	No employees
1 Oct 2012	120,000 +
1 Nov 2012	50,000 +
1 Jan 2013	30,000 +
1 Feb 2013	20,000 +
1 March 2013	10,000 +
1 April 2013	6,000 +
1 May 2013	4,100 +
1 June 2013	4,000 +
1 July 2013	3,000 +
1 Aug 2013	2,000 +
1 Sept 2013	1,250 +
1 Oct 2013	800 +
1 Nov 2013	500+
List continues, see:	All staging dates

There are special provisions as follows:

• Small employees: those with less than 30 staff had to join between June 2015 and 2017 depending on the last two characters of their PAYE reference number.
• New employers (established after April 2012) had to start automatically enrolling their workers from May 2017 to February 2018.
• Employers who chose to use Defined Benefit or Hybrid Schemes could delay their staging date until 30 September 2017.

External link

See Directgov: employers pension obligations

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