What’s covered in this guide?
Before you begin
Before importing pension data, ensure the following setup has already been completed:
pension providers
company files
payroll memberships
pay groups
employee assignments
pension eligibility setup
⚠️ Important: Incorrect pension setup before importing may result in incorrect enrolments, failed contribution submissions, or employees syncing into the wrong pension scheme.
Always confirm your pension configuration before importing memberships in bulk.
Export the pension import template
To download the pension import template:
Navigate to: Payroll > Settings > Import / Export
Download: Pension Provider Membership
This CSV file is used to create or update pension memberships for employees.
Matching to an existing employee is done by Name and System ID. NI number and Payroll ID are not used for matching, only exported for reference.
Configure employees manually first
Before importing all employees, we strongly recommend manually configuring a small number of employees first.
Recommended examples include:
one enrolled employee
one opted-out employee
one postponed employee
This helps confirm contribution rates, enrolment statuses, opt-out dates, and (if using Nest) pension groups and payment sources.
⚠️ Important: Testing a small number of employees first can help identify formatting or matching issues before importing all pension memberships.
Complete the pension import template
The Pension Provider Memberships template is used to create or update employee pension memberships in bulk. Fields include:
pension provider
member number
employee contribution percentage or employee contribution fixed amount
employer contribution percentage or employer contribution fixed amount
enrolment status
postponement settings
reassessment date
enrolment date
opt-out date
If you're using Nest as the pension provider, two additional fields apply:
pension group
payment source
📝 Note: Pension group and payment source are Nest-specific, for other pension providers these columns are accepted but not validated, so you can leave them blank.
⚠️ Important: Some exported templates may not automatically populate contribution percentages.
📝 Note: An exported membership only shows a contribution percentage if that membership is actually configured on a percentage basis. A membership using a fixed contribution amount will correctly show a blank/zero percentage, that's expected. Always double check which basis (percentage or fixed) each employee is meant to use before uploading.
Import enrolled employees
To import enrolled employees:
Complete the pension template
Set the employee enrolment status correctly
Save the file as CSV
Upload the file through the Import / Export page
⚠️ Important: Employees who are eligible and correctly configured may then sync into the pension provider.
Import opted-out employees
When importing opted-out employees:
ensure the employee status is marked as opted out
include the correct opt-out date where possible
⚠️ Important: If no opt-out date is provided, Workforce may automatically use the import date instead.
Import postponed employees
Postponed employees can also be imported through the pension membership template.
Ensure postponement statuses and dates are correct, and that employee memberships are assigned correctly.
Once postponement ends, Workforce reassesses the employee during the next pay run and may enrol them at that point, this reassessment works identically whether the postponement was set via the CSV import or directly in the Workforce UI.
Upload the import file
Once the template has been completed:
Save the file as CSV
Navigate to: Payroll > Settings > Import / Export
Upload the completed file
Review any validation errors
We recommend importing a small test group before uploading all employee memberships.
⚠️ Important: Initial pension syncs may take up to 20 minutes depending on the amount of data being processed.
Review imported pension memberships
After importing pension provider memberships, you can review the imported employee data within Workforce.
Go to:
Staff
Select the employee profile
Navigate to: Payroll > Pension
From here, you can review imported pension information including:
pension provider
member number
pension group
payment source
employee contribution percentage
employer contribution percentage
enrolment status
postponement settings
reassessment dates
enrolment dates
opt-out dates
Common import issues
Pension provider not appearing
This may occur if the provider sync has not completed yet.
Wait for the provider sync to finish and retry the import if required.
Contribution percentages missing
Some templates may not automatically populate contribution percentages.
Always enter:
employee contribution percentages
employer contribution percentages
before uploading the CSV file.
Employees are not syncing to Nest
Check:
employee identifiers
company file assignments
pension eligibility
Nest groups
payment schedules
Duplicate employee records
Duplicate records are commonly caused by:
mismatched NI numbers
changed payroll IDs
inconsistent employee names
Before importing, always verify:
employee names
NI numbers
payroll IDs
Import validation errors
Validation errors may occur if:
required fields are missing
enrolment statuses are invalid
contribution values are formatted incorrectly
company assignments are incomplete
Correct the errors in the CSV file before retrying the import.
Best practices for bulk enrolment
To reduce pension syncing and enrolment issues:
configure a small number of employees manually first
test different enrolment scenarios before bulk importing
confirm company file assignments before syncing
verify pension groups and schedules
confirm contribution percentages before upload
use consistent employee identifiers between systems