Auto-enrolment for directors turns on employment contracts: a director without one is not a worker, and a company run only by directors may have no duties.
Many owner-managed companies assume that auto-enrolment applies the day the first director draws a salary. It does not work that way. Whether the company owes anyone a workplace pension depends on who has an employment contract, and on whether anyone else does. A director's pension question usually mixes company profit, salary and personal tax. An FCA-authorised adviser can take those together by phone, and you can arrange the call, which costs nothing, with the form on this page.
Which directors count as workers for auto-enrolment?
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) says a director "is only a worker for automatic enrolment purposes" if two things are true:
- the director is employed under an employment contract, and
- somebody else, possibly a fellow director, is also employed under one.
The contract need not be written down: TPR says it "could also be either a verbal or implied contract". It adds that where there is no written contract or other evidence of an intention to create an employer and worker relationship, it will not seek to argue that an implied contract exists. A director who has no employment contract, TPR says, is "always exempt from automatic enrolment".
The exemption is specific to the company. TPR notes that someone who is a director of one company but works as ordinary staff for a second company is still a worker for the second. It also treats only people who actually hold the office as directors, not someone who is a director in name only.
Four common set-ups, and what each means
TPR’s director guidance sorts the usual small-company cases like this:
| Who works for the company | Automatic enrolment duties? |
|---|---|
| One director, no one else (contract or not) | None. TPR says a one person company with a sole director "is never considered an employer". |
| Two or more directors, none with an employment contract, no other staff | None. No one is a worker. |
| Two or more directors, only one with an employment contract, no other staff | None. The company is not an employer. |
| Two or more directors with employment contracts, no other staff | Yes, for the directors who have contracts. Those without are not workers. |
A fifth case changes the picture: any other member of staff. If you employ someone who is not a director, you are an employer with duties for that person, and TPR says duties begin when you employ your first member of staff who is not a director and has an employment contract. A director with a contract then counts as a worker and is assessed on the same age and earnings tests described in the workplace pension rules. Part-time and casual staff are covered in who must be enrolled among zero-hours and part-time staff.
Married couples and civil partners get no special treatment. TPR says "the duties are not affected by any family relationships", so what matters is each person’s office and contract.
If the company has no duties, what do you tell TPR?
A company with no duties does not need a declaration of compliance, the online filing employers make to report what they have done. TPR’s wording is that such a company "should let us know that they’re not an employer". TPR’s other director page says you only need to complete the online form if you receive a letter from it. The form sits on TPR’s What if I don’t have any staff? page. Sending it states that you have no duties under the Pensions Act 2008, and TPR warns that "If you provide false or misleading information to avoid your duties, you may be fined or prosecuted." The same page says not to use the form if you are intending to employ someone.
Duties can start later. TPR says a company must inform it as soon as its circumstances change, for instance by taking on a non-director member of staff or when at least two directors start working under employment contracts. Hiring only new directors without contracts does not trigger duties.
A director with a contract: the company’s choice and your right to join
Where a director is a worker and meets the age and earnings tests, TPR says the company can choose whether to put them into a pension scheme. If the company has no other eligible staff and decides not to enrol the director, it does not need to set up a scheme but must still make a declaration of compliance saying it has not put any workers into one.
That choice cannot be used to shut a director out for good. The director has the right to ask to join (opting in) at any time and the company cannot then refuse, unless it has chosen to exclude people in their notice period and the director is serving one. What goes in once a director has joined is covered in the workplace pension minimums. If you are on the other side, a member wondering about leaving, see opting out of a workplace pension.
Paying into a pension when there is no legal duty
No auto-enrolment duty does not mean no pension. A director can pay into a personal pension or a SIPP, and a sole director can use Nest, which GOV.UK describes as a workplace scheme that "working self-employed people or sole directors of limited companies can use". The Nest self-employed guide and the SIPP explainer cover the products.
The company can also pay in as a business expense. HMRC’s Business Income Manual says that "a pension contribution by an employer to a registered pension scheme in respect of any director or employee will be an allowable expense unless there is a non-trade purpose for the payment". Its Pensions Tax Manual gives the test for deduction: the contribution must be "incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the employer’s trade or profession". HMRC also flags that part of a contribution may fail the test where the whole remuneration package is excessive for the work done.
Directors often want salary and pension payments looked at together before year end, and an FCA-authorised adviser handles that over the phone at no cost; ask for the call on the form this page carries.
Employer payments count towards the annual allowance as well. GOV.UK, read on 3 November 2026, gives the allowance for the current tax year (2026/27) as £60,000, lower for some high earners and after flexibly accessing a pension, and says it covers what "you or anyone else (for example, your employer)" pays in. The detail of how the limits fit together is in the limited company director pension guide and the guide to company pension contributions, with the basic relief rules in pension tax relief. Investments in a pension can fall as well as rise, so you may get back less than was paid in.
Enrolling yourself as a director: what people ask
Is a company secretary treated the same way as a director?
No. TPR says the special director rules do not apply to other office-holders such as company secretaries. A secretary with an employment contract is a worker even if it covers only extra work beyond the official duties, though only pay under that contract counts; one with no contract who only carries out the duties of the office is exempt.
My spouse and I are both directors. Are we workers?
Only if you both have employment contracts with the company. TPR says that if one or neither of you does, neither is a worker and the company is not an employer.
Does a director with a contract have to be enrolled?
Not necessarily. Where another person also has a contract, the company is allowed to choose whether to enrol an eligible director. The director can still ask to join, and the company cannot refuse unless the director is in a notice period it has chosen to exclude.
Do I still need a pension if the company has no duties?
The company has no legal duty, but nothing stops you saving. Running your own company and unsure how pension payments sit beside salary? Your details go in the enquiry form here; an adviser the FCA has authorised then calls to go through your own position.
Sources
Pages read on 3 November 2026; the TPR pages print no date.