What is postponement?
As an employer, you can postpone automatic enrolment of your workers into a workplace pension for up to three months.
Reasons to consider postponement
You may wish to postpone automatic enrolment for one, some, or all of your workers if:
This is your first time employing a worker, and you need more time to set up your pension scheme.
You only expect your worker to be with you for a short period of time. For example, they are on a fixed-term contract or have a probationary period.
You expect the worker to leave within three months.
The worker has a bonus payment that takes them over the earnings trigger but they wouldn't normally be eligible for automatic enrolment.
Postponement can be effective for employers who are not ready for automatic enrolment. However, your workers can still opt in to the workplace pension scheme during the postponement period.
What you need to do to postpone automatic enrolment
The Pensions Regulator doesn't need to be informed if you decide to postpone automatic enrolment, but you must notify your affected workers within 6 weeks of the postponement date.
In PayFit, you can record your postponement date and send the relevant notification to your workers. PayFit will tell you when it’s time to automatically enrol your workers after the postponement ends. For instructions on how to do this, please refer to our Help Centre article.