UK

Auto-enrolment, in plain English.

Automatic enrolment is the UK statutory duty requiring employers to enrol eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension and contribute on their behalf, unless the worker opts out. Minimum contribution rates for both employer and employee are set by The Pensions Regulator and reviewed periodically. Coverage is assessed against age and earnings thresholds every pay period, not once at hire.

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How Auto-enrolment works.

Automatic enrolment is the UK duty to enrol eligible workers into a qualifying pension scheme and contribute, unless the worker opts out within the statutory window. Eligibility is assessed every pay period against age and earnings thresholds set by The Pensions Regulator, so a worker can move in and out of scope as hours or pay change. An opt-out inside the window requires any contributions already taken to be refunded. The duty to re-enrol workers who previously opted out recurs on a cycle set by law, not once at hire and done.

Where Auto-enrolment goes wrong.

  1. Assessing eligibility once at hire, rather than every pay period, misses workers whose earnings rise into scope later.
  2. Inducing, or appearing to induce, a worker to opt out is prohibited outright, which makes any employer messaging around auto-enrolment a compliance question, not a communications one. And missing the re-enrolment date restarts the duty for workers who previously opted out, since the obligation to offer them the pension again does not lapse because they declined once before.
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Related terms.

Questions about Auto-enrolment

Automatic enrolment is the UK statutory duty requiring employers to enrol eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension and contribute on their behalf, unless the worker opts out. Minimum contribution rates for both employer and employee are set by The Pensions Regulator and reviewed periodically. Coverage is assessed against age and earnings thresholds every pay period, not once at hire.
Automatic enrolment is the UK duty to enrol eligible workers into a qualifying pension scheme and contribute, unless the worker opts out within the statutory window. Eligibility is assessed every pay period against age and earnings thresholds set by The Pensions Regulator, so a worker can move in and out of scope as hours or pay change. An opt-out inside the window requires any contributions already taken to be refunded. The duty to re-enrol workers who previously opted out recurs on a cycle set by law, not once at hire and done.
Assessing eligibility once at hire, rather than every pay period, misses workers whose earnings rise into scope later.

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