Understanding the 2026/27 Auto-Enrolment Rules: Earnings Thresholds and Employer Duties
UK employers with staff must comply with automatic enrolment duties under workplace pension legislation. For the 2026/27 tax year, the automatic enrolment earnings trigger remains £10,000, the lower earnings limit remains £6,240, and the upper earnings limit remains £50,270. Employers should ensure payroll processes, worker assessments, communications, contribution calculations and record-keeping reflect these thresholds and their ongoing duties.
The 2026/27 thresholds employers need to apply
For 2026/27, the annual thresholds remain unchanged. The automatic enrolment earnings trigger is £10,000, the lower earnings limit is £6,240, and the upper earnings limit is £50,270. These thresholds are used when assessing whether staff must be automatically enrolled and, where qualifying earnings are used, the band on which minimum contributions are calculated.
Employers should ensure payroll and pension administration processes are aligned with these figures from the start of the tax year. Although these thresholds are commonly expressed on an annual basis, assessments and contribution calculations should be applied correctly by reference to the relevant pay reference period. Where payroll software applies thresholds automatically, employers may wish to confirm the correct values are in use at the outset of each tax year and after any payroll system changes.
Which workers must be automatically enrolled
An employer must automatically enrol a worker if they meet the legal criteria, including age and earnings conditions, and ordinarily work in Great Britain. In general, this means assessing whether a worker is aged at least 22 and under State Pension age, and whether earnings exceed the automatic enrolment trigger. Employers are required to assess staff correctly and on time, and should not rely on informal or inconsistent payroll assumptions.
Workers who are not automatically enrolled may still have statutory rights. A worker who does not meet the automatic enrolment criteria may have a right to opt in or to join a pension scheme, depending on their age and earnings. Where a worker has the right to opt in and does so validly, the employer must arrange active membership and pay employer contributions in accordance with the automatic enrolment legislation and the scheme basis used. A worker who has a right to join a pension scheme does not necessarily trigger employer contributions. A robust administration process would typically include a clear written procedure for handling opt-in and joining notices and for actioning them correctly within payroll.
The earnings trigger and qualifying earnings band remain the same as the prior year. Employers should still confirm that payroll software is applying the correct figures and that worker assessments are being carried out accurately.
Contribution calculations and payroll controls
Where contributions are based on qualifying earnings, employers should ensure the correct earnings band is applied and that contribution calculations are accurate for each relevant pay reference period. Payroll teams should test treatment for workers with variable earnings, part-time hours, overtime, bonuses or irregular work patterns.
Employers should also ensure pension deductions and employer contributions are paid across to the pension scheme on time and are supported by a clear audit trail. Late or inaccurate payments are a common source of compliance issues and can result in regulatory action.
Ongoing employer duties do not end after enrolment
Automatic enrolment is not a one-off exercise. Employers have ongoing legal duties, including monitoring staff age and earnings, managing opt-outs, opt-ins and joining requests, paying the correct contributions, keeping required records, and completing re-enrolment and re-declaration when due. It is important that internal controls are reviewed regularly to ensure these duties are carried out consistently across payroll cycles.
A compliance-led process should include documented worker assessments, enrolment records, contribution records, opt-in or opt-out notices, and evidence that required statutory communications were issued. Records should be retained in a form that can be produced if needed for governance, internal audit, adviser review or regulatory enquiry. Employers should also ensure that staff communications are clear, factual and not misleading.
A worker below the earnings trigger or outside the age range may still have a right to opt in or join a scheme. Employers must have a clear written process for handling these requests and actioning them within payroll.
Practical compliance actions for 2026/27
A structured compliance review for 2026/27 may include confirming payroll thresholds for automatic enrolment and qualifying earnings, reviewing worker assessment rules for age, earnings and Great Britain working status, verifying opt-in and joining processes, and testing contribution calculations for non-standard pay patterns.
This would normally also involve confirming statutory communications and record retention procedures are in place, and diarising re-enrolment and re-declaration dates. Where the business is a company, directors and people with significant control should separately monitor the Companies House identity verification rollout from 18 November 2025 – this is being introduced on a phased basis and should not be conflated with pension duties. These are common areas reviewed as part of a compliant administration process.
Workers with variable earnings, part-time hours, overtime or irregular patterns can create payroll edge cases. Testing contribution calculations for these scenarios reduces the risk of underpayment or overpayment.
Enrolment records, contribution records, and evidence of statutory communications should be retained in a form that can be produced for governance, internal audit, adviser review or regulatory enquiry.
Key Auto-Enrolment Thresholds for 2026/27
| Threshold | Annual Amount | What it determines |
|---|---|---|
| Earnings trigger | £10,000 | Whether a worker must be automatically enrolled (if aged 22 to State Pension age) |
| Lower earnings limit | £6,240 | The floor of the qualifying earnings band used for minimum contribution calculations |
| Upper earnings limit | £50,270 | The ceiling of the qualifying earnings band – where minimum contributions are calculated on qualifying earnings, earnings above this threshold do not form part of that statutory band |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do the auto-enrolment thresholds change every year?
Not necessarily. For 2026/27, the Secretary of State confirmed the thresholds remain unchanged from the prior year. The Government reviews thresholds annually and may change them in future years. Employers should check the confirmed figures at the start of each tax year rather than assuming the previous year’s values still apply.
What happens if a worker earns below the earnings trigger but above the lower earnings limit?
A worker who earns between the lower earnings limit (£6,240) and the earnings trigger (£10,000) is not automatically enrolled but has the right to opt in. If they opt in validly, the employer must arrange active membership and pay employer contributions on qualifying earnings above the lower earnings limit.
When must re-enrolment take place?
Employers must re-enrol eligible workers who have opted out of their workplace pension scheme roughly every three years, in line with the employer’s re-enrolment cycle. The exact re-enrolment date is chosen by the employer within a window around the third anniversary of their staging date or previous re-enrolment date. Employers must also complete a re-declaration of compliance with The Pensions Regulator after each re-enrolment.
Is Employment Allowance part of auto-enrolment compliance?
No. Employment Allowance is a separate National Insurance relief that allows eligible employers to reduce their annual NI liability by up to £10,500. It has its own eligibility rules and is not part of automatic enrolment duties. Employers should not conflate the two when reviewing their payroll obligations.
Advice on automatic enrolment duties
If you need advice on how automatic enrolment duties apply to your business, consider speaking to a qualified adviser.
Speak to an adviserSources
- The Pensions Regulator – Automatic Enrolment Guidance – Official guidance on automatic enrolment duties for employers
- GOV.UK – Workplace Pensions – Government overview of employer automatic enrolment obligations
- The Pensions Regulator – Re-enrolment – Guidance on the three-year re-enrolment duty
Final Thoughts
For 2026/27, the automatic enrolment thresholds remain unchanged, but employers still need to maintain robust assessment, enrolment, contribution and record-keeping processes. Compliance should focus on legal duties, accurate threshold application, ongoing employer obligations, and clear separation of pension compliance from other business administration matters. A start-of-year review is one way employers may identify process gaps before they result in compliance issues.
