All employers are required by law to provide a workplace pension for certain employees. This requirement is known as automatic enrolment (or the auto-enrolment duty) and it applies to all staff who:
- are aged between 22 and the State Pension age
- earn at least £10,000 per annum
- work in the UK
From April 2019, employers must pay at least 3% of an employee’s qualifying earnings (ie their salary before tax) into this workplace pension. They must also deduct contributions of at least 5% from each eligible employee. If these levels of pension contribution are already made through an existing workplace pension scheme, there is no need to take any action, as the requirements of auto-enrolment will be fulfilled.