As an employer, you are not liable to provide a pension scheme unless you employ 5 or more people.

However, if this is the case, employees can be excluded from the scheme if:

• The employee has earned less than the lower earnings limit for national insurance every week for the last 3 months
• The employee is less than 18 years old
• The employee is 5 years from retirement

If you are liable to provide a pension scheme, you should set up a stakeholder pension scheme or adopt a scheme that is offered by another institution. It is your legal duty to inform employees of the scheme and give them sufficient information on request.

Unsure if you are required to provide a pension scheme? Visit: www.stakeholder.opra.gov.uk/decisiontree/