The new employer responsibilities under pensions reform are built on two principles:

• the auto-enrolment of working individuals into a pension scheme, and
• compulsory pension contributions by employers

The auto-enrolment of working individuals into a pension scheme

Auto-enrolment

Auto-enrolment means that an individual is automatically enrolled into a pension scheme and doesn’t need to do anything or make any decisions, for example choose a fund or sign an application form. Read more about auto-enrolment.

Working individuals

The new legislation defines working individuals as workers and jobholders. Our worker and jobholder diagram explains the difference.

Employers have different duties towards their employees depending on the criteria that each employee meets. Our employer duties tool explains what these are.

A pension scheme

Employers can choose to auto-enrol jobholders into a auto-enrolment private pension scheme or into the government’s National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). Use our interactive qualifying and auto-enrolment scheme tool to check what the criteria are.

Compulsory pension contributions by employers

The total minimum pension contribution that needs to be paid into a scheme is 8% of qualifying earnings, with you needing to contribute at least 3%. Qualifying earnings are different from how most employers currently calculate pensionable earnings, so read more about qualifying earnings, its impact and possible solutions..