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 (external website).

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

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. Read The Money Advice Service’s guide (external website) on leaving your workplace pension scheme. 

As of April 2019, the minimum contributions for the workplace pension increased.

Date effective Employer minimum contribution Staff contribution Total minimum contribution
Up until 5th April 2019 2% 3% 5%
6th 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.