Setting up a pension provider

One-time setup

1. Open Settings > Pension
2. Fill in:

Provider

• Provider name — NEST, People's Pension, Aviva, Standard Life, or any other (free text)
• Scheme reference — your provider-issued reference. This appears on payslips and pension files.

Contribution rates

• Employee contribution — percentage of qualifying earnings (UK statutory minimum is 5%, many businesses set this higher)
• Employer contribution — percentage (statutory minimum is 3%)

Contribution mode

• Relief at source — most common. Pension comes from net pay; the provider claims tax relief from HMRC. Default for NEST and People's Pension.
• Net pay — pension comes off gross before income tax. Employee gets immediate tax relief.
• Salary sacrifice — employer pays the pension; employee's salary is reduced. Saves NI for both sides.

Qualifying earnings band

• Apply LEL/UEL band (recommended) — only earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 (FY26-27) count toward the contribution. Statutory default.
• Use full pay — the percentage applies to the entire gross. Higher cost to both sides.

3. Save.

See Pension contributions: relief at source vs net pay vs salary sacrifice for a side-by-side of which mode to pick.

Per-employee overrides

The company defaults apply to every enrolled employee, but you can override per employee if needed:

• Employee detail > Pension tab > Override
• Set custom employee and employer rates, mode, or earnings band

Use this for senior staff with bespoke pension arrangements (e.g. an offer guaranteeing a higher employer contribution).

Auto-enrolment criteria

Once the provider is configured, employees who meet UK auto-enrolment criteria appear in Pension > Auto-enrolment queue:

• Age 22 to State Pension age
• Earning above the auto-enrolment trigger (£10,000/year, FY26-27)
• Working in the UK

Click Enrol to start contributions from the next pay run.

See also

• Pension auto-enrolment — the per-employee enrolment flow
• Which pension providers are supported?