A workplace pension under 22 is not automatic: employers must enrol only workers aged 22 or over, but you can ask to join from 16, and the employer then has to act.

If you are 18, 19, 20 or 21 and wondering why nothing has come out of your pay, the age rule is usually the reason. Whether you can still get into the scheme, and what your employer would add, turns on how much you earn. Weighing up a first pension on a first wage? An FCA-authorised adviser can tally what joining would trim from each pay packet, on a free ring-back that even a teenager in a first job can set going from the form on this page.

Are you auto-enrolled into a workplace pension before you are 22?

No. GOV.UK says your employer must enrol you and pay in only if you are “aged between 22 and State Pension age” and “earn at least £10,000 per year”, among other tests such as being a worker who usually works in the UK. Below 22 the first test fails, whatever the pay. The Pensions Commission's 2026 interim report puts it the same way: only workers “between 22 and State Pension age” earning over £10,000 from a single employer are required to be automatically enrolled.

That is a legal minimum for employers, not a ban. The report adds that individual employers can choose to ignore the age criteria and enrol their employees anyway, so what your own employer does about staff under 22 depends on the employer and its scheme. The rules below give you a way in even if yours does not.

Joining a workplace pension at 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 21

The Pensions Regulator, whose detailed guidance tells employers how to apply these duties, counts a worker as a “jobholder” from 16 up to 74. Its table counts as a non-eligible jobholder anyone “aged between 16 and 21 or state pension age and 74” earning above the earnings trigger, and anyone aged 16 to 74 with qualifying earnings at or below it. The regulator's own worked example is a worker who is 19 years old, whose pay is above the lower level of qualifying earnings: her letter counts as an opt-in notice, and her employer must enrol her. Its guidance gives that group a right: “A non-eligible jobholder has the right to opt in.” You do it by giving your employer a notice, and the employer is then “required to make arrangements for the jobholder to become an active member of an automatic enrolment scheme”.

Being under 22 is not a reason to refuse, then. The regulator lists two exceptions: you or your employer has already given notice to end your job, or you are asking again within 12 months of a previous notice after leaving the scheme it arranged.

Once you are in, you can still leave, because an enrolled jobholder has the right to opt out. How leaving works, and what happens to money paid in, is covered at opting out of a workplace pension.

Will your employer pay in if you ask to join?

It depends on how much you earn. For a jobholder who opts in, the regulator says the employer follows the enrolment process and so is “required to make an employer contribution”. GOV.UK states the pay test from the other side: if you have joined voluntarily, the employer “must contribute the minimum amount if you earn more than:” £520 a month, £120 a week or £480 over 4 weeks, and does not have to contribute anything at or below those amounts.

Earn that much or less and you are what the regulator calls an entitled worker, who has the right to join a pension scheme. In that case the employer is not required to pay anything in, the regulator says, though it can choose a scheme where it does. So a part-time or Saturday job may get you into a scheme without bringing an employer payment with it.

Your own contribution is worked out on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year in most automatic enrolment schemes, GOV.UK says, and scheme rules can make it higher. The percentages, and what counts as pay, are on minimum workplace pension contributions and which pay counts. If you work for an agency, on a zero-hours contract or as an apprentice, the rules for those workers are set out separately.

What changes on your 22nd birthday

Your employer has to check your position on that date. The Pensions Regulator lists “the date of the worker’s 22nd birthday” among the dates when an employer must assess a worker, and its worked examples show an employer comparing pay in the pay period that contains the birthday with the earnings trigger. If you earn above the trigger by then, you become someone the employer must enrol, and you do not have to ask.

GOV.UK adds that the enrolment can be put back by as much as 3 months, provided you are told in writing and allowed to join in the meantime if you ask. Would a pension at your age leave you short of cash now? That is a decision to weigh against your pay, debts and other savings, and pension contributions by age and whether a workplace pension is worth having set out the trade-offs.

Will the auto-enrolment age drop from 22 to 18?

Not yet. Parliament passed the Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent on 18 September 2023 and would let ministers lower the age by regulations once its first section is in force. Section 1 gives the power: the Secretary of State “may by regulations amend subsection (1)(a) so as to decrease the age for the time being specified in that paragraph”. Section 2 adds that “Section 1 comes into force on such day or days as the Secretary of State may by regulations made by statutory instrument appoint.” On legislation.gov.uk, read on 27 October 2026, section 1 is still shown as prospective, meaning it is not yet in force. The same section, once in force, also requires ministers to consult before making such regulations and to lay a draft before Parliament with a report on that consultation.

No date has yet been appointed for section 1 to start. If you are deciding whether to join before 22 regardless, an FCA-authorised adviser's ring-back, booked free on the form on this page, covers how that sits with your wage.

The Pensions Commission's June 2026 interim report mentions the idea too. It recalls that the 2017 review recommended cutting the age from 22 to 18, and adds that “Any changes to the eligibility age in the future must be sensitive to labour market conditions at the time”. While section 1 is not in force, 22 stays the age.

Questions people ask about workplace pensions for young workers

Can someone under 18 join a workplace pension?

Yes, from 16: the regulator's jobholder group runs from 16 to 74, so a worker of 16 or over with qualifying earnings can ask to opt in. Whether the employer must pay anything again turns on pay.

Does my employer have to tell me I can join?

The regulator says an employer must give jobholders and entitled workers specified information about the right to opt in or join. If you have heard nothing, ask your employer or payroll team in writing.

What if I am under 22 and my employer says no?

The regulator's guidance sets the right out as one the employer must meet, with limited exceptions such as notice to leave. GOV.UK's joining chapter puts it plainly for workers outside automatic enrolment: “You can usually still join their pension if you want to. Your employer cannot refuse.” Put your request in writing; the regulator says a letter or an email will do. An FCA-authorised adviser can cover what to try next, and a request on the form here gets that call-back going.

Is a workplace pension the only way to save for retirement at my age?

No. A personal pension such as a SIPP is one alternative; a junior SIPP is for children, a Lifetime ISA compared with a pension is another route, and self-employed people have their own position. Pension values can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you pay in.

I am over 22 but earn under £10,000. Is that different?

Yes. At 22 the age test is met, so pay alone decides: on at least £10,000 a year you are enrolled automatically, and below that the opt-in and joining rights above still apply. Workplace pension rules explained covers the full set.

Sources