This calculator provides estimates of the costs employers may face once they reach their 'staging date' and are required to automatically enrol employees into a qualifying pension scheme. It can be used to provide figures based on either of the following assumptions:

(i) that employees who are already members of the employer's pension scheme remain in that scheme, with additional costs coming from non-members being automatically enrolled in that scheme, or in a different qualifying scheme, chosen by the employer, which meets the minimum contribution level required. The figures produced by the calculator will be the additional pension costs which must be met by the employer; or

(ii) that from the staging date all employees will participate in one qualifying scheme – in which case the figures produced will be the employer's total pension costs.

Salaries are not projected by the calculator and this is therefore a 'snapshot' calculation.

Several calculations can be run at the same time to outline different costs - based on different contribution rates, and whether full earnings or qualifying earnings (currently earnings in the band £5,035 to £33,540 a year) are used. Alternatively, pensionable earnings, as defined for your existing scheme, can be used if you intend to use that scheme for auto-enrolment purposes.

The average earnings figure used by the calculator is determined as an average only and is not unique to individual employees; therefore the figures produced by the calculator are for indicative purposes only.

The calculator can be used by employers offering defined contribution (DC), final salary or CARE schemes. For a DC scheme to be termed a qualifying scheme, the following minimum contribution requirements apply: until September 2016 the minimum employer contribution rate is 1%, rising to 2% for October 2016 to September 2017 and to 3% from October 2017 onwards. In some cases employers may be required to contribute a minimum of 4%.

For final salary and CARE schemes (collectively known as defined benefit schemes), there is a minimum accrual requirement. If you are considering using a defined benefit scheme for auto-enrolment purposes, The Pensions Trust will be happy to discuss whether it will satisfy the accrual criteria.

The requirement to auto-enrol jobholders is based on the definition of an 'eligible jobholder', and employers will need to identify any such jobholders prior to reaching their staging date.

Disclaimer:

The calculator is to be used as an indicator only and is not definitive. Actual contribution figures will vary according to the number of eligible jobholders and earnings thresholds in place (if qualifying earnings are used) at the time the employer reaches its staging date. Employers may wish to take into account other factors such as administration burdens when considering their auto-enrolment requirements.

The Pensions Trust cannot accept any responsibility for the figures produced by this calculator. As noted above, the figures produced assume that either all your employees, or all your employees who are not currently pension scheme members, are auto-enrolled. However, please be aware that the actual cost may decrease if auto-enrolled members subsequently opt out, or where auto-enrolled members have earnings which fall above the limit for qualifying earnings, where these are used to determine contributions payable.