Understanding your costs

This page is aimed at giving employers a better understanding of the costs of setting up automatic enrolment, including setting up a scheme and payroll.

You may need to think about one-off costs to set up automatic enrolment, as well as the ongoing cost of paying money into the scheme and managing the process.

For many employers, the process can be managed at little or no additional cost, especially if existing systems already support the requirements. Others may decide to pay for extra support, depending on their circumstances.

Setting up your scheme

The time and cost involved in setting up automatic enrolment will depend on factors such as:

how your payroll is run
whether you use business advisers
the pension scheme you choose
the size and complexity of your business or organisation

Some employers are able to complete the set-up themselves. Others use external support to help manage the process.

If you’re considering paid support or services, you should compare what’s available to make sure it meets your needs and offers value for money.

Find out what else to consider when you choose a pension scheme.

The time involved

You’ll need to allow enough time to complete your automatic enrolment duties. You can use your very own tailored duties timeline to help you stay organised and reduce the amount of time required.

The time needed will vary from business to business.

Getting help

You can carry out your duties yourself, or you can get help from a professional such as:

an accountant
a payroll provider
a financial adviser
another business adviser
a member of staff such as an internal clerk or payroll officer

If you choose to get help, you should:

agree what tasks they will carry out
check what is included in their service
understand any charges before you commit

Payroll

Your payroll must be able to handle automatic enrolment tasks and pass the right information to your pension provider.

If you run payroll yourself, check that your system can meet these requirements. If you use a payroll provider, ask whether automatic enrolment is included in the service they provide.

According to recent findings in a 2025 report conducted by the Federation of Small Businesses:

52% of small employers say it costs them under £500 per year for ongoing advice and professional services
24% of small employers say it costs them over £500 per year

Employers with 10 or more members of staff are twice as likely to say that setting up a scheme costs them more than £500 than those with up to nine members of staff.

_{This information comes from ‘Backing the Future: Recognising the importance of small firms in shaping the pensions policy’ (June 2025).}

Ongoing duties

After you’ve set up your scheme, you’ll need to:

assess and enrol staff
keep accurate records
make contributions on time

You can also use our online contributions calculator to help work out the costs for each member of staff.

You’ll also need to manage changes such as staff joining or leaving, and requests to opt out or rejoin.

You can manage these duties yourself or arrange for a third party to do some or all of them for you.

Remember that even if you pay someone to set up your automatic enrolment or ongoing duties, you the employer are ultimately responsible to ensure that all duties are carried out.

Last updated: 22 October 2026