Auto-enrolment after State Pension age: your employer no longer has to enrol you, but you can ask to join, and above a pay level they must then contribute.

Reaching State Pension age changes how you get into a workplace pension, not whether you can have one. Employers stop being required to enrol you without being asked, yet a worker who is still employed can usually ask to be put in, and the employer then has duties of its own. What this means in pounds depends on your pay, any other pensions and whether you have already drawn money flexibly. People in that spot sometimes ask for a call from an adviser the FCA has authorised; the form on this page arranges it, takes about a minute, and carries no fee. General rules follow.

What stops at State Pension age, and what carries on

Section 3 of the Pensions Act 2008 puts the enrolment duty on an employer only for a jobholder aged at least 22, below pensionable age, and paid more than £10,000 over a year’s pay period (a pro-rata figure for shorter periods). The Act defines pensionable age by rules in Schedule 4 to the Pensions Act 1995, and GOV.UK's guide describes the window as running from 22 up to State Pension age. Once your State Pension age arrives, the duty to enrol you automatically falls away. Your own State Pension age depends on your date of birth, and the other conditions (pay, where you work, being a worker) are set out in the workplace pension rules.

The outer edge of the framework is later. Section 1 of the Act defines a jobholder as a worker "who is aged at least 16 and under 75". So from State Pension age until your 75th birthday you stay inside the system, as a jobholder if qualifying earnings are payable, but as someone who has to ask rather than someone who must be enrolled. Under the same section, a person with more than one employer is assessed separately for each job, so a second part-time job can sit in a different category from the first.

Asking to be put in, and what the employer then owes

The right sits in section 7 of the Act: a jobholder may by notice require the employer to arrange for them to become an active member of an automatic enrolment scheme. It applies only to someone not already an active member of a qualifying scheme. The Pensions Regulator’s detailed guidance for employers (no. 6, part of a version it dates June 2021) fills in the mechanics:

  • The notice. It must be in writing, which can include email, and either signed or, if emailed, carry a statement that the worker personally submitted it.
  • What the employer checks. On receipt, only whether the worker earns above or below the lower level of qualifying earnings on that date.
  • The exceptions. If you have handed in notice to resign or retire, or been given notice of dismissal, the employer is not required to make arrangements. And under section 7, someone who opts in, leaves within 12 months and then gives a further notice cannot require the employer to enrol them again.

What follows turns on one figure, the lower level of qualifying earnings: for 2026/27 the Regulator’s earnings thresholds page puts it at £6,240 a year, £520 a month, £120 a week or £480 over four weeks. Between State Pension age and 74, the Regulator’s guidance no. 1 treats a UK worker paid above that level as a non-eligible jobholder, however far above the £10,000 trigger the pay goes, and one paid at or below it as an entitled worker.

  • Non-eligible jobholder. An opt-in goes into an automatic enrolment scheme, and on contributions the guidance is direct: "The employer must pay employer contributions to the scheme." GOV.UK says the same from the worker’s side for anyone who enrolled voluntarily and earns over the lower level; the amounts are in the workplace pension minimum.
  • Entitled worker. A joining notice under section 9 secures membership of a registered pension scheme, but the employer "does not have to pay into the scheme themselves, unless they choose to".

The full grid by age and pay, for every age band, is in the workplace pension rules, and anyone who opted in can still opt out within a set period (see opting out of a workplace pension). Past State Pension age you are no longer an “eligible jobholder”, and the Regulator describes the three-yearly re-enrolment duty as applying to someone who is still one. What happens to a membership you already had at State Pension age is for the scheme rules and your employer; if you had stepped back from contributions, pausing pension contributions covers restarting.

Paying in alongside the State Pension, and the line at 75

GOV.UK’s State Pension guide says you can claim the new State Pension while still working and can pay into a workplace or personal pension; working on past State Pension age also ends your National Insurance (see National Insurance after State Pension age, and deferring the State Pension on putting the claim off). An employee who opts in pays through payroll; someone self-employed, or saving on their own account, would use a personal pension or a SIPP (see auto-enrolment for the self-employed).

Tax relief is where earnings matter. HMRC’s pension schemes rates page limits member relief, for UK residents aged under 75, to contributions up to the higher of 100% of UK taxable earnings and £3,600; how that works with no earnings, or at higher rates, is in pension tax relief.

At 75 two things change. The opt-in and joining rights end, since sections 1 and 9 of the Act cover workers under 75 and the Regulator tells employers to assess staff "aged at least 16 and under 75". Member relief ends too: section 188 of the Finance Act 2004 excludes contributions paid after the individual has reached 75, and HMRC’s manual says such payments can still be made but cannot qualify for relief. The same rates page says there is no limit on what an individual can contribute to a registered scheme; whether a given scheme accepts new money from an older member is for that scheme to say. Employer payments after 75 and the annual allowance are in pension tax relief after 75, and starting a pension in your fifties or sixties covers opening a new plan.

The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you paid in. Sorting State Pension, wages and older pots into one picture is work for an adviser the FCA has authorised; the form on this page lodges that request.

If you have already taken money flexibly

For anyone who has started drawing from a defined contribution pot, this is worth checking before paying in again. GOV.UK says the annual allowance, which counts money paid in by you or anyone else, an employer included, might be lower for someone who has flexibly accessed their pot, for example through drawdown income, a short-term annuity or an uncrystallised funds pension lump sum. The lower figure is the money purchase annual allowance. HMRC’s pension schemes rates put it at £10,000 for 2026/27, against £60,000 for the ordinary annual allowance in the same year.

HMRC’s Pensions Tax Manual (PTM056520, updated August 2022) says that once a trigger event occurs, the test applies for that tax year and later ones; its general page (PTM056510) adds that the amounts tested are those arising after the first flexible access. The triggers include the first payment of drawdown income, or of a short-term annuity bought from a flexi-access drawdown fund, and the first uncrystallised funds pension lump sum. A lifetime annuity is a trigger only where entitlement arose on or after 6 April 2015 and its terms allow the payment to decrease other than in prescribed circumstances, so which side a given annuity falls on is a question for the provider. The money purchase annual allowance, drawdown and annuities have their own guides.

Questions people ask about pensions after State Pension age

Is there an upper age limit for paying into a pension or joining a workplace scheme?

For the employer's duties, yes: the opt-in and joining rights cover workers under 75. For paying in, HMRC says there is no limit on what an individual can contribute to a registered scheme, though member tax relief stops once you have reached 75. A scheme or provider can have its own rules about taking new members.

Will I be auto-enrolled if I start a new job after State Pension age?

The employer's duty to enrol applies only to someone below pensionable age, so a new employer is not required to enrol you. You can give written notice asking to be put in. If you are paid above the lower level of qualifying earnings, the employer must then enrol you and contribute.

Do employers have to pay into my pension after State Pension age?

If you opt in and earn above the lower level of qualifying earnings, yes: the employer must contribute. If your pay is at or below that level, it does not have to. For a membership you already had, the scheme rules and your employment terms apply.

Is there an age limit for opening a SIPP?

The age that matters for tax is 75: contributions after it can be paid but earn no member relief. Whether a provider opens a new plan for an older applicant is that provider’s decision, so ask before applying. The SIPP guide explains the product.

Your next step

Your pay, other pensions and what you have drawn decide what any of this is worth. For the position on your own State Pension, the State Pension guide and DWP are the places to start; Pension Wise, from MoneyHelper, gives free, government-backed guidance to those who are eligible. For your employer’s duties, the Regulator’s guidance for employers is the source. Final step, if you want one: type your circumstances in at the form on this page, then expect to be rung by an FCA-authorised adviser firm; there is no cost to ask.

Sources

Pages read on 20 October 2026. The Regulator’s detailed guidance prints "published June 2021"; its two web pages are undated.