Auto-enrolment pension in AccBooks AI

What is auto-enrolment?

Automatic enrolment (auto-enrolment) requires all employers to enrol eligible employees into a workplace pension scheme and make contributions. It’s been mandatory since 2012 and is enforced by the Pensions Regulator.

Who must be enrolled

Employee type	Criteria	Action
Eligible jobholder	Aged 22–State Pension age, earns > £10,000/year	Must be enrolled automatically
Non-eligible jobholder	Aged 16–74, earns £6,240–£10,000 OR aged 16–21/SPa–74 earning > £10,000	Can opt in — you must enrol if they request it
Entitled worker	Aged 16–74, earns < £6,240	Can join — you must provide access but don’t need to contribute

Minimum contribution rates

From April 2019 onwards:

	Minimum
Employee contribution	5% of qualifying earnings
Employer contribution	3% of qualifying earnings
Total minimum	8% of qualifying earnings

Qualifying earnings are between £6,240 and £50,270 per year (pro-rated per pay period).

Many employers use total earnings (without the lower threshold) as the contribution basis for simplicity — this is also known as the “basic pay” basis and must be at least the minimum on qualifying earnings.

Setting up auto-enrolment in AccBooks

1. Go to Payroll → Pension settings.
2. Choose your pension provider. AccBooks integrates with NEST, The People’s Pension, Aviva, Scottish Widows and others. If your provider isn’t listed, select Custom provider and enter their payment details.
3. Enter your employer contribution rate and employee contribution rate.
4. Choose the pensionable pay basis: qualifying earnings, total earnings, or basic pay.
5. Enter the staging date (or re-enrolment date if you’re past staging).
6. Click Save.

Assessing workers on each payroll run

On each payroll run, AccBooks:

1. Assesses each employee against the eligibility criteria.
2. For new eligible employees not yet enrolled: automatically enrols them and sends the statutory enrollment notice.
3. For existing enrollees: calculates contributions based on the period’s pay.
4. Generates a contribution schedule for uploading to your pension provider.

Opting out

Employees can opt out within one month of being enrolled. If they opt out:

1. Record the opt-out in AccBooks under Employees → [employee] → Pension → Opt out.
2. AccBooks refunds any contributions deducted in the current pay period.
3. The employee is excluded from pension calculations until the re-enrolment date (every 3 years).

Contribution file formats

AccBooks generates contribution files compatible with:

• NEST (CSV format)
• The People’s Pension (CSV)
• Aviva (XML)
• Standard Life (CSV)
• Royal London (CSV)

Download the file from Payroll → Runs → [run] → Pension file and upload it to your provider’s portal.

Re-enrolment

Every 3 years, you must re-enrol any opted-out employees who are now eligible. AccBooks tracks re-enrolment due dates and alerts you 6 months before the date. The re-enrolment declaration to the Pensions Regulator must also be submitted within 5 months of the date.

Reporting to the Pensions Regulator

AccBooks generates the Declaration of Compliance data you need to submit to the Pensions Regulator. Go to Payroll → Pension → Declaration of compliance and follow the guided flow.