Automatic enrolment is a continuous responsibility – your duties do not end after your duties start date.
Each time you pay your staff you must monitor changes in their age and earnings to see if they need to be put into your scheme.
Every three years you must carry out re-enrolment to put back in any staff who have left your scheme.
You will also need to continue paying into your pension scheme, manage requests to join or leave the scheme and keep records.
Each time you pay your staff you should carry out the following tasks.
Monitor the ages and earnings of your staff
You must monitor the ages of your staff and the amount you pay them (including new starters) to see if you need to put any of them into a pension scheme. You must put them into a pension scheme and write to them within six weeks from the day they become meet the age and earnings criteria.
If you have any staff who are
- aged between 22 up to state pension age*
- and earn over £10,000 per year, or £833 per month or, £192 per week
you must put them into your pension scheme and you must both pay into it.
*If you are unsure what the state pension age is you can use the State Pension Calculator to find out.
Manage requests to join your pension scheme
If any of your staff, who can ask to join your scheme, write to you asking to do so, you must put them into it within a month of receiving their request.
You will have to pay into the pension scheme if they are:
- aged 16-74
- and earn at least £520 a month or £120 per week.
We have more information in the choose a pension scheme section for employers who have staff to put into a pension scheme.
Manage requests to leave your pension scheme
Any of your staff can choose to leave your pension scheme after being put into one. If they do ask to leave within one month of being put into a scheme, this is known as opting out. Many pension providers will manage the opt out process on your behalf, speak to your provider if you're unsure. If any of your staff opt out, you need to stop taking money out of their pay and arrange a full refund of what has been paid to date. This must happen within one month of their request.
The Money and Pensions Service has produced a guide for staff who are thinking of leaving their pension scheme.
Keep records
You must keep records of how you've met your legal duties, including:
- the names and addresses of those you've put into a pension scheme
- records that show when money was paid into the pension scheme
- any requests to join or leave your pension scheme
- your pension scheme reference or registry number
You must keep these records for six years except for requests to leave the pension scheme which must be kept for four years.
Maintain contributions
Once you have set up a pension scheme and put your eligible staff into it, your legal duties don’t end there. You must continue to make the payments that are due into the scheme every time you run payroll. We monitor the contributions that are paid into workplace pensions and can tell if payments that are due are not being made into your staff’s automatic enrolment scheme. We will take action if you fail to comply with your ongoing legal duties, and you may need to backdate any missed payments.
Re-enrolment
Every three years you'll need to put staff back into your pension scheme if they have left it, and if they meet the criteria to be put into a pension scheme. This is known as re-enrolment. We will write to you in advance of your re-enrolment date to explain more.
More about re-enrolment.