You can use it for a single member of staff, a group or all your staff.
Postponement
This page is aimed at employers who are about to employ temporary or seasonal staff, that have staff on a probationary period or that need more time to set up a pension scheme.
You can delay working out who to put into a scheme for up to three months.
This is known as postponement and you must write to your staff to tell them what you are doing and how automatic enrolment applies to them.
Why you might postpone
Postponement is a flexible option and you might decide to postpone if:
- you have seasonal or temporary staff who you know will stop working for you within three months
- you have staff who begin work on a probationary period
- you need more time to set up your pension scheme or other business processes
Postponement doesn’t change your duties start date.
Using postponement may make the assessment of your staff easier. This is because you only need to work out who to put into a pension scheme if staff are still working for you at the end of your selected postponement period.
When you can postpone
You can only postpone automatic enrolment from:
- your duties start date
- a staff member's first day of employment
- the date a staff member first meets the age and earnings criteria to be put into a pension scheme that you also pay into.
Remember, if you use postponement on your duties start date it only changes the day on which you need to assess your staff, it doesn't change your duties start date or your declaration of compliance deadline. You can only use postponement if you're within six weeks of the date that your member of staff met the age and earnings criteria to be put into a pension scheme.
How to use postponement
You can postpone for up to three months. You can postpone as many or as few staff as you like and the postponement period doesn't have to be the same length for everyone.
Postponement gives you the flexibility to decide how long you would like to postpone the assessment for and it doesn’t have to be the same length for everyone. It can be a day, a week or a month, as long as it does not go over the maximum of three months.
You must write to each member of staff individually to tell them that you have delayed working out who to put into a scheme and how automatic enrolment applies to them. You will have six weeks to write to them from the date after postponement starts. You can amend our postponement letter template to help you with this.
There's no need to tell us that you've decided to use postponement.
At the end of the postponement period, assess your staff to work out whether they meet the age and earnings threshold for automatic enrolment.
Postponement letter template
Use our postponement letter template to help you write to staff as required by law. You can tailor the letter template to your needs.
During the postponement period
If any of your staff write to you asking to join a pension scheme during the postponement period, you must put them into one once you have received their request.
You will have to pay into the pension scheme if they are:
- aged 16-74
- and earn at least £520 a month or £120 per week.
To find out how much you will need to pay you should ask your pension scheme provider.
At the end of the postponement period
On the last day of the postponement period, you must assess these staff to work out whether they meet the age and earnings criteria to be put into a pension scheme. If they do, you must put them into a pension scheme straight away and pay into it.
You cannot apply a further period of postponement for these staff, even if you postponed for less than the three months allowed. However, if a staff member does not meet the age and earnings criteria to be put into a pension scheme, you can use postponement again.
You can’t use postponement at re-enrolment. You can only use postponement for automatic enrolment.
Last updated: 07 September 2026