Workplace pension auto-enrolment
The legal duty on UK employers to automatically enrol eligible jobholders into a qualifying workplace pension scheme and pay a minimum employer contribution.
At a glance
Payroll- Why it matters
- UK statutory
- Related
- 3 terms
- Walkthroughs
- 3 guides
- Watch out
- Common misconception below
Plain English. UK spelling. No marketing filler.
Why this matters
Since 2018 every UK employer must auto-enrol staff aged 22 to State Pension age earning more than £10,000 a year. The minimum contribution is 8% of qualifying earnings — 3% employer, 5% employee (including 1% tax relief). The Pensions Regulator (TPR) audits compliance through a triennial re-enrolment review and the employer must complete a declaration of compliance.
How YionStack handles it
The YionStack payroll module determines each employee’s eligibility on every run — eligible, non-eligible, entitled — based on age and qualifying earnings. Eligible jobholders are flagged for enrolment unless they have opted out within the one-month window. Pension contributions calculate per run and lodge with the connected pension provider (Smart Pension, People’s Pension, or NEST are the three pre-wired providers; others connect through file upload). The triennial re-enrolment is tracked as a deadline on the business profile; YionAI surfaces the action 60 days before it falls due. The declaration of compliance is generated for the employer to submit on TPR’s portal (TPR has no public API, so the final filing remains manual).
Common misconception
Opt-out only applies within the first month
A jobholder who opts out within the one-month window is treated as though they were never enrolled, and any deducted contributions are refunded through payroll. After the first month, leaving the pension requires the provider’s standard cease-membership process and contributions already lodged stay invested. YionStack tracks the one-month opt-out window per employee.
Related terms
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