Employees

As a result of automatic enrolment, millions of people now have a workplace pension. Find out how this affects you.

Millions of workers are being automatically enrolled into a workplace pension by their employer. Saving into a workplace pension is easy – you don’t have to do anything. Once you’re enrolled by your employer, not only will you pay into the scheme, but so will your boss and you may also get tax relief from the Government.

Pensions can take many forms and you may have previously been invited to join a defined contribution or personal pension by your employer. Find out more about the different types of pension.

Your employer will need to enrol you into a workplace pension scheme if you:

  • Are not already in one, or they’ve not enrolled you into one
  • Are aged between 22 and State Pension age
  • Earn more than £10,000 a year
  • Usually work in the UK

You can opt out if you want to, but that means losing out on employer and government contributions – and if you stay in, you’ll have your own pension that you receive when you retire.

As of 6 April 2018, the minimum contributions for the workplace pension increased.

Date effective Employer minimum contribution Staff contribution Total minimum contribution
Currently until 5 April 2019 2% 3% 5%
6 April 2019 onwards 3% 5% 8%

NB You and / or your employer may already have chosen to pay more than the minimum contributions. If your payments are greater than the increased minimum levels, you will not need to pay any more.