The auto-enrolment regime does not stop at the first sign-up. Every three years, every UK employer must run a "re-enrolment" exercise — sweeping previously opted-out staff back into the pension scheme and re-declaring compliance to The Pensions Regulator. Miss it and the consequences are the same as if you had ignored auto-enrolment in the first place: a fixed £400 fine followed by daily escalating penalties.
What re-enrolment requires
Three years (give or take 3 months either side, at your choice) after your initial staging date, you must:
- Pick a re-enrolment date within the 6-month window centred on the third anniversary of your duties start date.
- Assess each worker on that date — including those previously opted out.
- Enrol every eligible jobholder who has opted out, ceased active membership, or stopped contributing more than 12 months ago.
- Issue statutory communications within 6 weeks of the re-enrolment date.
- Submit a Re-Declaration of Compliance to The Pensions Regulator within 5 months of the third anniversary of the previous declaration.
Who gets re-enrolled
The criteria are the same as at original auto-enrolment: aged 22 to State Pension age, ordinarily working in the UK, and earning above the £10,000 trigger. A worker who actively opted out within the previous 12 months can be excluded from re-enrolment — but everyone else who meets the criteria comes back in.
This catches a lot of employers by surprise. A worker who opted out 18 months ago has not made any active decision to rejoin, but the law requires the employer to put them back in. They can opt out again immediately — but the employer cannot pre-empt that decision.
What workers can do once re-enrolled
Re-enrolled workers have the standard 1-month opt-out window during which they receive a full refund of any contributions. After that, they can stop future contributions but cannot recover those already paid. Many workers, when faced with the opt-out form a second time, simply leave the contributions running — which is one reason successive UK governments have left the cycle in place.
The administrative cost
For an employer with 50 staff, re-enrolment typically takes a few hours of payroll work spread across the assessment, communication, and declaration steps. The pension provider does most of the technical lifting — your job is mainly to issue the right letters in the right window and submit the Re-Declaration on time.
Where re-enrolment becomes painful is for employers who have grown rapidly since their original date, changed pension providers, or migrated payroll systems. Our payroll service tracks every client's re-enrolment date and runs the process end-to-end so nothing slips.
Penalties for missing the deadline
TPR's enforcement approach for re-enrolment is identical to original auto-enrolment. A Compliance Notice gives you a chance to put things right; ignoring it triggers a Fixed Penalty Notice of £400; continued failure produces an Escalating Penalty Notice with daily fines based on staff numbers (£50 to £10,000 per day depending on workforce size). Backdated contributions on staff who should have been enrolled fall on the employer, not the worker.
What to do now
If you do not know when your next re-enrolment date is, find it today. The TPR portal records it against your PAYE reference, and so does any decent payroll system. Mark a calendar reminder 4 months before the date and add the workflow to your payroll cycle.
If you would rather not manage the cycle in-house, our payroll team includes re-enrolment in every full-service engagement — assessment, communications, declaration, evidence pack — for clients who would rather get on with running the business. Book a payroll review or reach us through our contact page.