Ongoing client duties for re-enrolment

Once the re-declaration of compliance is complete, your client still has ongoing duties towards their staff, whether they have staff to put back into their scheme or not.

You can help your client avoid penalties by understanding how they must meet their ongoing duties.

Monitor the ages and earnings of their staff

They must continue to monitor the ages and the amount they pay their staff (including new starters) to see if they need to put any of them into a pension scheme for the first time. They don’t need to do this for staff who they have put into their pension scheme and who have chosen to leave the scheme, as they will assess them at their next re-enrolment.

If they have any staff who are:

• aged between 22 and up to state pension age*
• and earn over £10,000 per year, or £833 per month or, £192 per week

They must put them into their pension scheme and they must both pay into it.

*If you are unsure what the state pension age is you can use the State Pension Calculator to find out.

Keep records

They should continue to keep records of how they’ve met their legal duties, including:

• the names and addresses of those they've put into a pension scheme
• records that show when money was paid into the pension scheme
• any requests to join or leave their pension scheme
• their pension scheme reference or registry number

They must keep these records for six years except for requests to leave the pension scheme which must be kept for four years.

Manage requests to leave or join their scheme

If any of their staff choose to leave their pension scheme (opt out) within one month of being put into your pension scheme for the first time, they need to stop taking money out of their pay and arrange a full refund of what has been paid to date. This must happen within one month of their request.

MoneyHelper has produced a guide for staff who are thinking of leaving their pension scheme.

If any of your client’s staff, who can ask to join your client’s scheme even if they’re not eligible to be automatically enrolled, write to your client asking to do so, your client must put them into their scheme within a month of receiving their request.

They will have to pay into the pension scheme if they are:

• aged 16-74
• and earn at least £520 per month or £120 per week

To find out how much they will need to pay they should ask their pension scheme provider.

Maintain contributions

Once they have set up a pension scheme and put their eligible staff into it, their legal duties don’t end there. They must continue to make the payments that are due into the scheme every time they run payroll.

We monitor the contributions that are paid into workplace pensions and can tell if payments that are due are not being made into your client’s staff’s automatic enrolment scheme. We will take action if your client fails to comply with their ongoing legal duties, and they may need to backdate any missed payments.

You can use our employer’s online contributions checker to help you work out your client’s costs for each member of staff.

Next re-enrolment

Every three years your client needs to reassess their staff to see whether they have any who must be put back into their pension scheme, and they’ll need to complete a re-declaration of compliance to tell us what they have done.

We will write to your client to explain what they need to do and by when. Read more about what your client needs to do for their next re-enrolment.

We need your email address

• Receive important email alerts about your client's duties and deadlines
• Tell us who will be helping your client with re-enrolment
• Update/check your contact details are up to date