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Pensions · 6 min read

Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment

Every UK employer has duties to put eligible staff into a workplace pension. A plain guide to who qualifies and what you pay.

This guide covers payroll in the UK. You are viewing Nobicel for Ghana — see the guides for Ghana.

Who must be enrolled

You must automatically enrol workers who are aged at least 22 and under State Pension age, work in the UK, and earn above the earnings trigger (currently £10,000 a year). Other workers can ask to join, and some are entitled to employer contributions if they do.

Minimum contributions

Contributions are normally worked out on qualifying earnings: pay between a lower and upper limit. The legal minimum is 8% of qualifying earnings in total, of which the employer must pay at least 3%. The employee pays the rest, including any tax relief.

  • Employer: at least 3% of qualifying earnings
  • Employee: the remaining 5%, including tax relief
  • You can choose to pay more, or use a different pay basis

Opting out and re-enrolment

Enrolled staff can opt out within one month and get their contributions back. Roughly every three years you must re-enrol eligible staff who opted out, and you must send The Pensions Regulator a declaration of compliance, including after re-enrolment.

How Nobicel helps

Nobicel assesses every worker on each pay run, enrols those who become eligible, works out employee and employer contributions and prepares the file for your pension provider.

This guide is general information for UK employers, not legal or tax advice. Rates and thresholds change each tax year, so check current guidance on GOV.UK before acting on it.

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