The good news is the timeline is simpler than it looks — but the clock starts sooner than most new employers expect.
Your employer duties began on your employee's first day of work. That date is called your "duties start date". The old staging-date system was phased out years ago (it finished in 2017), so there is no longer a grace period: the clock starts from day one of your first employee's employment.
Here is the essential sequence:
- Assess your worker each pay period. You must automatically enrol anyone who is aged between 22 and State Pension age, and earning over £10,000 a year (that's £833 a month or £192 a week if you pay more frequently). Staff outside these bands don't have to be enrolled, but they still have the right to opt in — and you must tell them about it.
2. Pay the minimum contributions. Once someone is enrolled, total minimum contributions are 8% of their qualifying earnings, with at least 3% of that coming from you as the employer. The employee typically pays the rest (around 5%) through payroll.
3. Put it in writing. You must write to each employee explaining how automatic enrolment applies to them, within 6 weeks of your duties start date (or within 6 weeks of a later starter's first day).
On your postponement question: yes, you can postpone the assessment for up to 3 months. But you must give the employee written notice of the postponement within 6 weeks, and if they are still eligible on the deferral date you must enrol them then. For a permanent first hire I would generally skip postponement and just enrol them from the start — the contributions on one person's first few months are modest, and it keeps things simple.
Finally, the step new employers most often miss: tell The Pensions Regulator. You must complete your declaration of compliance within 5 months of your duties start date, even if you have only one employee.
And one for the diary: roughly every 3 years you'll need to re-enrol anyone who opted out, and re-assess your workforce.
Most small employers run all of this through their payroll software or pension provider (NEST, the People's Partnership and Smart Pension all have straightforward setup guides for small firms), so it rarely needs to become the admin burden people fear.
