Updated on 6 April 2026

Pensions auto-enrolment: contributions

If you are eligible for auto-enrolment and do not choose to opt out, there are certain contribution requirements that must be met. Here we look at how much needs to be paid into your pension under auto-enrolment, and how this might be split between you and your employer.

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Content on this page:

Overview

Normally, a percentage (%) of your ‘qualifying earnings’ has to be put into your auto-enrolment pension each pay day.

Note that there are other contribution methods, for example pensionable pay, which is described on the government’s MoneyHelper website.

For tax year 2026/27, your qualifying earnings for auto-enrolment pension contribution purposes are your earnings over £6,240 up to the limit of £50,270. ‘Earnings’ includes your wages or salary, bonuses, commission as well as other items, such as statutory pay, before any tax or National Insurance contributions are deducted.

These yearly amounts translate into the following figures depending on how often you are paid:

How often are you paid?	Lower level - £6,240	Upper level - £50,270
Weekly	£120	£967
2-weekly	£240	£1,934
4-weekly	£480	£3,867
Monthly	£520	£4,189

The total pension contributions paid must be at least 8% of your qualifying earnings. You employer must pay at least 3% towards this:

Overall total contribution required	Minimum contribution from your employer	Potential contribution from you (including tax relief)
8%	3%	5%

Note that pension schemes may allow additional regular or one-off contributions to be made into your pot, over and above the minimum percentages outlined above.

Example – weekly-paid employee

Marcie earns £220 per week. Neither Marcie nor her employer pay pension contributions on the first £120 of pay, therefore they will each pay contributions based on £100 (£220 less £120) each week. The employer pays the minimum amount of £3 (3% x £100) and Marcie pays £5 (5% x £100) including tax relief.

Example – monthly-paid employee

Richard and his employer normally pay pension contributions based on his regular monthly earnings of £2,500. This means they actually only pay pension contributions on £1,980, as they are not due on the first £520 of pay.

In one month, Richard has to work a lot of overtime because a colleague is ill and is paid an extra £1,750. That means he is paid £4,250 that month. No pension contributions are due on the amount he has earned below £520 or in excess of £4,189.

This means that Richard and his employer will each pay pension contributions on £3,669 that month (£4,189 minus £520).

Employer contribution

As mentioned in the table above, your employer must make a minimum contribution (currently 3%). However, your employer can choose to pay more. This means that you can pay less, but you can choose to pay more in yourself if you want to make additional savings towards your retirement. Some employers may agree to match the contribution you pay up to a certain level.

Therefore, the amount you have to pay depends on how much your employer pays. If your employer pays less than the minimum total auto-enrolment pension contribution you will need to make a payment to make up the difference.

For example, in the tax year 2026/27, the minimum total auto-enrolment pension contribution is 8%, of which your employer must pay at least 3%. If your employer chose to pay the full 8%, then you would not have to pay anything, unless you wanted to. If your employer pays their minimum amount of 3%, then you must pay 5% as the overall minimum contribution is 8%.

Sometimes, an employer might operate salary sacrifice arrangements for your auto-enrolment pension.

Your employer should tell you how much you will need to contribute. The government’s MoneyHelper website provides a free workplace pension contribution calculator to help work out how much you will have to contribute. Your contributions will reduce your pay, which could lead to an increase in any benefits you are on.

Tax relief for employees

If you do have to contribute, you will normally get tax relief on the contribution. How you receive this tax relief depends on whether your employer is operating a ‘relief at source scheme’ or a ‘net pay scheme’. You should note that your employer’s contributions will not be a taxable benefit on you no matter which tax relief arrangement the pension scheme uses.

Relief at source scheme

If the pension scheme uses a ‘relief at source’ method of tax relief, then the scheme provider is able to claim 20p in tax relief from the government on every 80p you pay in, regardless of how much you earn. This will be paid directly by the government into your pension pot. Therefore, under a relief at source scheme, only 80% of your own contribution is automatically taken from your pay.

The tax relief means that the potential contribution percentage for you, the employee, is as follows – assuming your employer is contributing the minimum of 3%:

Net contribution (actual amount paid by you, the employee, from your pay): 4%
Tax relief claimed from the government by the scheme provider: 1%
Total gross employee contribution: 5%.

Example – auto enrolment pension contributions to relief at source scheme

Petro and his employer pay pension contributions each month based on his salary of £1,500. The first £520 of this is not counted so they each have to pay contributions based on £980 each month.

In 2026/27, Petro’s employer pays the minimum contribution of 3%, so Petro will have to contribute 5%.

The contribution Petro needs to pay is £49 per month (£980 x 5%). But the government pays £9.80 of that by giving him 20% tax relief on his part of the contribution (20% x £49 = £9.80).

The actual cost to Petro is £39.20, but the full £49 goes into his pension pot.

His employer also contributes 3% of £980, which is £29.40.

Therefore, Petro receives a total amount of £78.40 in his pension savings each month.

Net pay scheme

Some other pension providers use a different approach to tax relief, known as net pay arrangements. With a net pay pension scheme, the full contributions you make will be automatically taken from your pay packet before income tax is calculated.

Generally speaking, this means employees get full tax relief at the time of making the contribution, unless their earnings are less than their personal allowance (the standard personal allowance in 2026/27 is £12,570).

From tax year 2024/25 employees with low earnings who do not receive full tax relief on their pension contributions made through a net pay scheme will receive a top-up payment from the government. These payments are expected to start in 2026. See our separate guidance page for more information on this topic.

Check with your employer which type of pension scheme they use.

For more information about tax relief on pension contributions, see our page How tax relief is given on pension contributions.

Where contributions go

Your employer must choose a suitable pension company to receive and invest all the contributions which are made. Your employer will have to give you the details of the pension company it has chosen.

Once you have been auto-enrolled, the pension company will write to you with a welcome pack. This should tell you everything you need to know about being a member of their scheme and how it works, from logging into your online account for the first time (most pension companies allow you to keep track of your pension pot online) to what happens to your money if you die.

The pension company will invest the contributions. Your defined contribution pension ‘pot’ is separate from those of everyone else and so you might be able to make some decisions about where your money is invested if you want to. Any growth within the pension pot is tax-free, but the value of investments can increase or decrease.

For information on what happens if you leave a job see our Workplace pensions page.

The amount of money you have when you retire depends on how much has been paid in and how well the investments have performed. In most schemes when you retire you can take some of your pension as a tax-free lump sum. You can choose how to take the rest, for example as an income or as a further lump sum, but you may have to pay tax on it. You can find out more about your options on our page Pension withdrawals.

There is information on GOV.UK about how your pension savings are protected if your employer goes out of business.

Going on maternity leave or paternity leave

If you are about to go on maternity leave or paternity leave, and will possibly have a reduced income, you may wonder what happens with pension contributions.

Assuming you are already in a pension scheme before you go on leave, then your own pension contributions will usually be based on the pay you actually receive while you are on leave, for example, your statutory maternity or paternity pay.

Your employer’s contributions will be based on your earnings before your leave began.

During a period of maternity leave, employers are required to make contributions for the full 26-week ordinary maternity leave period. If you decide to extend your leave, the employer contributions must continue to the extent there is statutory maternity pay or any other contractual income still being paid (this will usually only be up to 39 weeks). If you take further maternity leave from week 40 your employer’s requirement to make pension contributions will be explained in the pension scheme rules.

During a statutory paternity leave of up to 2 weeks, employers are required to continue making pension contributions for the full period.

You can find out more on maternity leave and paternity leave and your pension on the government’s Moneyhelper website.