How will Auto Enrolment affect my workforce?

Firstly, you’ll need to assess your workforce to determine whether they’re treated as a ‘worker’.

There are three different categories of worker, determined by their age and how much they earn.

The different types of worker

Eligible employees
Must be automatically enrolled into an auto enrolment scheme.

Non-eligible employees
Have the right to opt in to an auto enrolment scheme.

Entitled workers
Have the right to join a pension scheme.

Exclusions from the employer duties

People who are treated as workers

These people are treated as workers but are not covered by the employer duties:

Those who do not work or ordinarily work in the UK.

Those under age 16.

Those aged 75 and over.

People who are not treated as workers

The following people are not treated as workers so the employer duties don’t apply to them:

The self-employed.

Members of the armed forces.

Directors of companies unless they have a contract of employment to work for that company and there is someone else employed by the company under a contract of employment.

Bringing forward your staging date

You can use postponement to defer the assessment of employees and your employer duties. The postponement period can not be more than three months. The end of the postponement period is known as the deferral date and you must assess employees on this date.

What you must do if postponement is used:

If you use postponement, you have to provide workers with a postponement notice. This must be given within six weeks and a day of:

Your staging date.

The employee’s first day of employment after your staging date.

The day that a worker becomes an eligible employee (for example, the day a worker reaches age 22).