Auto enrolment is the process of implementing mandatory pension schemes starting from 2012. UK employers have been required to automatically enrol “eligible job holders” – employees who are aged between 22 years and state pension age (SPA) and to whom they pay gross earnings above the personal allowance threshold, into a “qualifying” pension scheme. These obligations affect all employers to some extent, whether large or small, public sector or private.

The process requires employers to provide a minimum level of pension benefits to their “eligible jobholders”. Employees may opt out, but this means that the auto-enrolment process has to be repeated at least every three years.