Whether you have staff to put back into your scheme or not, you will have ongoing duties. Then every three years you’ll need to reassess your staff to see whether you have any who must be put back into your pension scheme.
You can use our online contributions checker to help work out your costs for each member of staff.
Each time you pay your staff you should carry out the following tasks.
Monitor the ages and earnings of your staff
You must continue to monitor the ages and the amount you pay your staff (including new starters) to see if you need to put any of them into a pension scheme for the first time. You don’t need to do this for staff who you have put into your pension scheme and who have chosen to leave the scheme, as you will assess them at your next re-enrolment.
If you have any staff who are
- aged between 22 and 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 leave or join your scheme
If any of your staff choose to leave your pension scheme (opt out) within one month of being put into your pension scheme for the first time, 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.
MoneyHelper has produced a guide for staff who are thinking of leaving their pension scheme.
If any of your staff who can ask to join your scheme, even if they’re not eligible to be automatically enrolled, write to you asking to do so, you must put them into your scheme 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 per month or £120 per week
To find out how much you will need to pay you should ask your pension scheme provider.
Keep records
You should continue to 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.
Maintaining 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.
Your next re-enrolment
Every three years you’ll need to repeat the steps you have just taken to put certain staff back into your pension scheme, and you’ll need to re-declare to tell us what you have done. We will write to you to explain what you need to do and when you need to do it by. Read more about what you’ll need to do for your next re-enrolment.
Make sure you keep your contact details up to date so that we write to the right person about your ongoing and re-enrolment duties. You can update your contact details online.