What’s covered in this guide?
Employees are not syncing to Nest
If employees are not appearing in Nest after setup, possible causes include:
invalid Nest delegate credentials
insufficient Nest delegate permissions
incorrect employer number
missing Nest groups or payment sources
employee details not matching between systems
incorrect company file assignments
pension provider sync still processing
Check the following:
Nest delegate username and password
employer number format
employee identifiers (particularly NI number, which Nest uses to match members)
company file assignments
pension eligibility
pension group configuration
payment source
⚠️ Important: Nest employer numbers should be entered without the EMP prefix.
Sync duration depends on Nest and the amount of data being processed, there's no fixed wait time. If staff setup doesn't appear promptly, check back after a few minutes before assuming something has failed.
Contributions are failing
Contribution failures are commonly caused by:
payment schedule mismatches
employees not being enrolled
incorrect Nest group configuration
invalid contribution dates
incomplete employee information
missing member numbers
Check the following:
pay frequencies
Nest schedules
pension statuses
contribution dates
employee member numbers
payment sources
⚠️ Important: Pay frequencies and Nest schedules must match correctly between systems.
Examples:
monthly payroll → monthly Nest schedule
4-weekly payroll → 4-weekly Nest schedule
Duplicate employee records in Nest
Nest identifies and matches members primarily by NI number (sent alongside each employee's Workforce member number when syncing).
Duplicate records in Nest are commonly caused by:
an incorrect or changed NI number for the employee
inconsistent employee names between Workforce and Nest
employees assigned to the wrong company file
employees being enrolled before setup was finalised
Before syncing employees, always verify:
employee names
NI numbers
company file assignments
⚠️ Important: Incorrect company file setup is one of the most common causes of duplicate pension records.
Employees appear in failed contribution logs after opting out
You may see failed contribution entries (in the Contributions tab under View Past Requests) for an employee even after they've opted out, if:
the contribution was generated and submitted from a pay run processed before the opt-out was recorded
the opt-out sync from Nest hasn't been applied yet
Employees were enrolled into the wrong pension scheme
This is commonly caused by:
incorrect company file setup
incorrect payroll memberships
incorrect pension group selection
connecting Nest before setup was finalised
Review the following:
employee company assignments
payroll memberships
pension groups
pension eligibility
⚠️ Important: Once a Nest integration is connected, eligible employees may begin syncing automatically.
Always confirm company file assignments before connecting Nest.
Credentials appear correct but employees are not syncing
If employees are not syncing even though credentials appear correct, check:
delegate permissions within Nest
whether the correct pension groups and payment sources are set up in Nest
whether the correct employer number is being used
whether the Nest employer account itself is fully set up
If pension management was previously handled by an accountant or external payroll provider, they may need to transfer delegate access or permissions, or provide updated login credentials.
Pension provider not appearing
If the pension provider is not appearing during imports or enrolment:
wait for the provider sync to complete
confirm the integration has been created successfully
confirm credentials are valid
retry the sync if required
⚠️ Important: Initial provider syncs may take up to 20 minutes. If the provider still hasn't appeared after a reasonable wait, check your credentials and employer number before retrying.
Import validation errors
The most common CSV import validation errors are:
the pension provider name or ID doesn't match an existing provider
both a contribution percentage and a fixed contribution amount were provided for the same contribution (only one is allowed)
the employee's Name and System ID in the CSV don't match an existing employee record
an invalid pension group or payment source was provided (Nest only)
Correct the errors in the CSV file before retrying the import.
Schedule mismatches
Schedule mismatches occur when Workforce pay frequencies do not match the configured Nest schedule.
Examples include:
monthly payroll linked to a weekly Nest schedule
4-weekly payroll linked to a monthly Nest schedule
Schedule mismatches may cause failed contributions, rejected submissions, or incorrect payment processing.
Always confirm pay frequencies, Nest schedules, payment sources, and pension groups before sending contributions.
View past sync requests
You can review previous requests sent between Workforce and Nest, including contribution submissions and employee syncs.
Go to: Payroll > Settings > Pension Providers
Open your Nest integration
Click: View Past Requests
From here, you can review sync status per request, view returned error messages, and retry, retry is only available for requests that failed. If requests do not appear immediately, check again later; there's no fixed processing time.
⚠️ Note: Nest syncs may take up to 20 minutes or longer depending on the amount of data being processed.
FAQs
Someone was enrolled in the pension by mistake. How do I undo it?
Someone was enrolled in the pension by mistake. How do I undo it?
Don’t use Opt out of pension for this. Opting out is for employees who choose to leave the scheme.
Open the employee’s profile and go to the Pension tab.
Click Correct enrolment details.
Under Enrolled by mistake?, click Undo enrolment.
This removes the enrolment, recalculates any draft payslips and lets Workforce assess them again.
The Enrolled by mistake? section only shows if all of these are true:
they were enrolled by hand, not by automatic assessment
Enable automatic pension assessment is on
they’re not an eligible jobholder
the pension provider isn’t Nest
their enrolment isn’t postponed
no pay run has been posted since they were enrolled
If you don’t see it:
Nest: correct the enrolment in Nest.
A pay run has been posted: contact Workforce support.
Eligible jobholder: they should be enrolled. If the type or date is wrong, change their Enrolment type or Enrolment date instead (see below).
How do I fix the wrong enrolment type or enrolment date?
How do I fix the wrong enrolment type or enrolment date?
Open the employee’s profile and go to the Pension tab.
Click Correct enrolment details.
Change the Enrolment date or the Enrolment type (Automatic enrolment or Opted in), and save.
Correct enrolment details only shows while the employee is enrolled, and not while a Nest request for them is still being processed.
⚠️ Important: This only changes the details in Workforce. It doesn’t send anything to Nest. If Nest has the wrong details, change them in Nest first.
Why isn’t an under-22 being enrolled?
Why isn’t an under-22 being enrolled?
That’s expected. Employees under 22 aren’t eligible jobholders, so they’re not enrolled automatically. Depending on their earnings, they show as Non-Eligible or Entitled Worker. Under-16s show as Excluded.
If Enable automatic pension assessment is on, Workforce assesses them again every pay run, including after their 22nd birthday.
If they ask to join, choose Employee asked to join in Enrolment status on their Pension tab. If automatic assessment is off, the option is Enrol in pension.
Why wasn’t an eligible employee enrolled automatically?
Why wasn’t an eligible employee enrolled automatically?
Check:
Enable automatic pension assessment is on for your pension provider
the employee has a date of birth on their profile
their Member number isn’t blank. Workforce skips automatic enrolment without one.
they aren’t opted out or postponed
they’re on the same company file as the pension provider, and only one pension provider with automatic assessment applies to that company file
Employees are assessed when a pay run’s payslips are calculated, not straight away.
Where can I see and retry Nest requests?
Where can I see and retry Nest requests?
Go to Pension Setup.
Click View Logs next to your Nest provider.
On the Nest Requests page:
Enrolled tab: click Retry Request next to a failed enrolment.
Sent Contributions tab: choose the pay run, click Select a pay run, then click Resend Failed Contributions.
You can also retry from the employee’s Pension tab, using Retry enrolment or Send to Nest.
Does Workforce handle re-enrolment?
Does Workforce handle re-enrolment?
Partly. Workforce automatically reassesses employees 3 years after they opt out, and enrols them again if they’re eligible.
It doesn’t run your scheme-wide re-enrolment on your re-enrolment date, send re-enrolment letters, or complete your re-declaration of compliance. Do those outside Workforce.
What pension emails does Workforce send?
What pension emails does Workforce send?
If Enable employee communications? is on in your pension provider’s Advanced Settings, Workforce emails employees when they’re auto-enrolled (plus a pension FAQs email), postponed, or assessed as not eligible. Emails are sent when the pay run is posted.
They only go to the employee’s personal email. Employees without one don’t get them.