What’s Covered in This Guide?
Overview
Workforce supports full pension auto-enrolment for UK payroll. This includes:
Automatically checking if employees meet the UK eligibility criteria
Enrolling eligible employees into their assigned pension scheme
Sending statutory enrolment notifications
Beginning contributions with the next payslip
Once configured, the auto-enrolment process is fully automated.
Eligibility Assessment
Each pay run, Workforce checks employees against workplace pension requirements, including:
Age
Earnings thresholds
Worker classification
If Automatically assess new staff for enrolment is enabled under
Payroll > Payroll Settings > Pension Providers, Workforce will also assess new employees as soon as they’re added.
What Happens When an Employee Becomes Eligible
If an employee meets the eligibility criteria:
They are automatically enrolled into the pension scheme assigned in their staff profile.
Workforce sends the required auto-enrolment email, which includes:
Confirmation of enrolment
Their rights under workplace pension law
Instructions on how to opt out
Pension contributions begin from the employee’s next payslip.
This process happens automatically during each pay run.
Postponement
If postponement has been applied to a staff member:
Workforce will delay auto-enrolment until the postponement end date.
They will be enrolled automatically once that date is reached.
The enrolment notification will be sent at that time.
No manual intervention is required.
Set Up Pension Providers
Before auto-enrolment can run, set up your pension provider in Workforce.
Go to: Payroll > Payroll Settings > Pension Providers
Here you can enter:
Pension provider name
Employer number (if applicable)
Employee contribution rate (%)
Employer contribution rate (%)
Whether to Automatically assess new staff for enrolment
To learn more about setting up pension providers, click here.
Assign Pension Provider Memberships
Employee memberships are managed in each staff profile.
Go to: Staff Profile > Pension Provider Memberships
Here you can:
Select the pension provider
Enter the member number
This links the employee to their scheme for assessment and contributions.
Ongoing Auto-Enrolment
Each pay run, Workforce will:
Re-assess staff if their age or earnings change
Enrol newly eligible employees
Respect postponement dates
Begin or maintain contributions
Process opt-out status (if the employee opts out externally)
The system handles all steps automatically.