Auto-enrolment minimum contribution rates

The minimum that has to go into a workplace pension under automatic enrolment is 8% of your qualifying earnings. That 8% is split between your employer and you: your employer pays at least 3%, and you pay 5%, which includes the government's tax relief on your contribution¹.

A percentage of your pay goes into the pension scheme automatically every payday, so the money leaves before you can spend it¹. You do not have to do anything to start: if you are eligible, your employer puts you in and the contributions begin.

The rules have been in place since 2012 and the rate reached its current 8% level in April 2019³. There are proposals to raise it to 12%, but nothing has been changed in law. This page sets out what the minimum is, how it splits, who gets enrolled, how the rate got here, and what happens if you opt out.

Minimum contributions: 8% of earnings

The headline rule is that total contributions must be at least 8% of your qualifying earnings¹. Qualifying earnings are a band of your pay rather than your whole salary: in 2022/23 the band ran from £6,240 to £50,270, and employers must contribute 3% of earnings within that band on behalf of auto-enrolled workers³.

That band matters more than it first appears. If you earn below the lower end of the band, or only a little above it, the 8% is calculated on a smaller slice of pay than your total wage. If you earn above the upper end, the percentage stops applying to the excess, so the cash amount going in does not keep rising with your salary. The result is that the same 8% headline produces very different amounts for a part-time worker and a higher earner.

The 8% is a floor, not a target. A scheme can require more, and an employer can choose to pay more than 3%. Where a scheme is more generous, the scheme rules and your contract govern it, not the auto-enrolment minimum.

The minimum total contribution is 8% of qualifying earnings, and it is made up of at least 5% from you and at least 3% from your employer⁵. Official guidance describes the same 8% floor as a percentage of earnings, of band earnings or of qualifying earnings, depending on the wording used¹.

How the 8% splits: 3% employer, 5% you, including tax relief

The 8% is made up of 5% from you, including tax relief, and 3% from your employer¹⁰. The employer's 3% is a genuine addition to your pay: it is not taken from your salary, and it is not optional for an eligible jobholder².

Your 5% is where the detail sits. It includes tax relief from the government, so the amount that actually leaves your pay is less than 5% in most cases⁵. How the relief arrives depends on how the scheme is set up. Under some arrangements the contribution comes out of your pay before tax is deducted, so you get the benefit immediately. Under others, the pension provider claims basic rate relief from HMRC and adds it to your pot. Higher and additional rate taxpayers may be able to claim extra relief, and Scottish taxpayers have their own rules.

The original design of the policy assumed a slightly different split. The Pensions Commission proposed a minimum of 8% made up of 4% from employees, 1% tax relief and 3% from employers³. The 8% total survived; the internal split is now described as 5% from the employee including relief, and 3% from the employer.

Who gets automatically enrolled

You are automatically enrolled if you earn more than £10,000 a year and you are aged between 22 and State Pension age⁶. Your employer must organise a pension for employees and put eligible workers into it¹².

Age and earnings change the picture at the edges. If you are aged between 16 and 21 and earn more than £10,000, your employer will not automatically enrol you, but you have the right to join if you want, with both you and your employer contributing and tax relief applied¹³. The same applies if you have reached State Pension age but are under 75 and earn more than £10,000: no automatic enrolment, but a right to join¹³.

Below the £10,000 earnings trigger, you are not automatically enrolled, but you may still be able to ask to join, and your employer may have to contribute if you do. The scheme rules and your employer's duties determine this.

How the rates rose from 3% to 8%, and proposals for 12%

Automatic enrolment was introduced in 2012¹⁴. The minimum contribution rates were phased in rather than applied at once: they started at a total of 3%, rose to 5% in April 2018, and reached the full 8% in April 2019³. The policy itself was formulated in the 2000s, brought in during 2012, and only reached 8% just under two years before a 2022 select committee report¹⁵.

The 8% rate has been the subject of repeated proposals to increase it. The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has called for gradually increasing contributions from 8% to 12%¹⁷, and has proposed an increase in the minimum rate to 12% by the early 2030s, starting with an increase in the employer contribution rate to 5%³. A separate policy statement proposes raising the minimum from 8% of band earnings to 12% of total salary between 2025 and 2030¹⁶.

Parliamentary committees have also looked at the question. A 2022 report welcomed the former Pensions Minister's aspiration to work towards a 12% minimum contribution rate, as in Australia¹⁴. None of this has changed the law: the minimum remains 8% of qualifying earnings¹.

Opting out, pausing contributions and re-enrolment

You can choose to opt out of the workplace pension¹⁸. Opt-out rates have generally been low. The proportion opting out was lowest at 4.7% just after contribution rates went up in 2018¹⁹.

Earlier estimates were less certain. Official statistics from August 2015 put the proportion opting out at 8% to 14%²⁰, and the Department's own assumption for new members at the 8% contribution rate from 2018 was 28%²¹. The gap between the assumption and the outcome is one reason the policy is regarded as having exceeded expectations.

If you opt out, your employer has to enrol you back in at least every three years if you are still eligible for automatic enrolment⁷. Providers describe the same rule as re-enrolment approximately every three years²². You can opt out again each time, but the cycle continues while you meet the eligibility conditions.

There is a separate page on how often you are re-enrolled after opting out and on how to opt out and get a refund.

What happens to your contributions when things change

The pension belongs to you, not to your employer. When you change jobs your pension belongs to you⁸, and you can leave it, transfer it, or keep paying in where the scheme allows. There is more on this in what happens to your workplace pension when you leave a job.

Contributions during leave follow specific rules. You and your employer continue to make pension contributions if you are getting paid during maternity leave⁸. If you are not getting paid, your employer does not have to make pension contributions unless your contract provides for it⁸. On other paid leave, you and your employer continue making contributions, with your contribution based on your actual pay during that time and your employer's contribution based on the salary you would have received if you were not on leave⁸. On unpaid leave, you may be able to make contributions if you want⁸.

Some benefits are only available to an employer's current workers⁸, so leaving can change what you are entitled to beyond the pension itself.

Charges, access and where to get help

Providers usually take a percentage of your pension fund to cover starting and running the pension²³. The amount varies by scheme, and workplace schemes are subject to a charge cap. There is more detail in workplace pension charges and the charge cap.

You cannot usually take money from your pension scheme until you are at least 55, unless you are seriously ill⁹. From April 2028 the minimum age rises from 55 to 57, unless you have a protected pension age or are retiring because of ill health²⁴. If you retire early through ill health, there may be special terms in the scheme rules that allow the pension to be enhanced²⁵. There is more on taking your pension early because of ill health and on when you can access your pension.

If something goes wrong with a workplace pension, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at complaints about pensions organised by employers²⁶. Free, impartial guidance on pension options is available from Pension Wise, and MoneyHelper offers general help with money questions.