Can I Opt Out of My Workplace Pension?

Who this guide is for

Workers anywhere in the UK who have been put into a workplace pension by their employer, or think they should have been, and want to know whether they can opt out, how to get their money back, whether they can join, and what their employer must and must not do. The rules are the same in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has its own law that mirrors the rules in Great Britain.

What this guide does not cover

• Questions about a Nest pension in particular: use the Nest pension checker.
• What happens to your pension if your employer goes bust, and the Pension Protection Fund: use the pension protection checker.
• The State Pension, Pension Credit, when and how you can take money out of a pension, pension tax limits, transfers, pension scams and pensions on divorce. This guide does not cover them: ask MoneyHelper.
• Pensions for the self-employed. Automatic enrolment is for workers. This guide does not cover pensions for the self-employed: ask MoneyHelper.
• The rules of your own scheme, such as a public sector or final salary scheme. This guide does not cover them: ask the pension scheme or your employer.

The questions that decide the answer

1. How old are you?
2. How much do you earn with this employer, and how often are you paid (weekly, every 4 weeks or monthly)?
3. Were you put in automatically, or did you ask to join? When were you enrolled, and when did you get your employer's letter about it?
4. Has the one month for opting out already passed?
5. What has your employer or the pension scheme said or done?

"Should I have been put into a pension?"

Your employer must automatically enrol you into a pension scheme and pay into it if all of these apply:

• you are a worker, not self-employed
• you are aged 22 or over and under State Pension age
• you earn more than £10,000 a year with that employer
• you usually work in the UK

Your earnings are checked for each pay period, against the matching amount for that period: more than £833 in a month or more than £192 in a week. A pay period with extra hours or overtime can take you over the amount for that period.

If you have more than one job, each employer checks only what you earn with it. Earnings from different employers are not added together. You could qualify in one job, in both, or in neither.

Your employer usually does not have to enrol you automatically if you or your employer have already given notice to end the job. You can usually still ask to join.

Your employer can delay the date it enrols you by up to 3 months (longer in some defined benefit schemes). It must tell you about the delay in writing, and it must let you join in the meantime if you ask.

"I don't earn enough, or I'm too young or too old. Can I join?"

Yes. If your employer does not have to enrol you automatically, you can still ask to join its pension. Your employer cannot refuse. This applies if you are aged 16 to 74 and usually work in the UK.

• If you earn more than £6,240 a year (more than £520 a month or £120 a week), your employer must enrol you and pay in at least the minimum. This includes workers under 22 or over State Pension age who earn more than £10,000 a year.
• If you earn £6,240 a year or less, your employer must let you join but does not have to pay in.

Ask your employer in writing.

"How do I opt out?"

Contact the pension scheme. It will tell you how to opt out: usually you get an opt-out notice from the scheme, fill it in and give it to your employer, and some schemes let you opt out online or by phone. Your employer must tell you how to contact the scheme.

The opt-out notice comes from the pension scheme, not from your employer.

You can only opt out after you have been enrolled, not before. If you asked to join and your employer pays in, you have the same right to opt out. If you asked to join and your employer does not pay in (you earn £6,240 a year or less), you cannot opt out, but you can leave the scheme under its rules.

The opt-out period is one calendar month. It starts on the later of the date you became a member of the scheme and the date you got your employer's letter with the enrolment information.

If you opt out in time:

• your employer must stop taking pension contributions from your pay straight away
• your employer must refund what you paid in within one month of getting your valid opt-out notice, normally in your next pay
• your employer stops paying in for you as well

If your opt-out notice was not filled in properly, the time to put it right is extended to six weeks.

"The month has passed. Can I still get out?"

Yes. You can stop paying in at any time. After the one month this is called leaving the scheme (ceasing active membership), not opting out, so you usually do not get your money back. What you and your employer have paid in usually stays in your pension until you retire. Whether you can get a refund depends on the scheme's rules.

You may be able to pay in less instead, but only if the scheme's rules allow it and your employer agrees. Ask the pension scheme.

If you were not automatically enrolled and did not ask to join, for example you joined the scheme before automatic enrolment, ask your employer how to leave.

"My employer wants me to opt out"

By law your employer cannot:

• encourage or force you to opt out
• suggest you are more likely to get a job if you opt out
• dismiss you, or treat you unfairly, for being in a workplace pension
• close a pension scheme without automatically enrolling you into another one

The decision to opt out must be yours alone, taken freely without influence from your employer.

You can report an employer who pressures you to The Pensions Regulator. If you have been dismissed or treated unfairly for being in the pension, you may be able to make a claim to an employment tribunal (an industrial tribunal in Northern Ireland). The time limits are short.

"I opted out. Can I join again?"

Yes. Write to your employer asking to join. Your employer must accept you back once in any 12-month period. It can choose to accept you more often.

If you opted out or stopped paying in, your employer will put you back in about every 3 years, as long as you still qualify. It will write to you, and you can opt out again.

"How much goes in?"

In most automatic enrolment schemes, contributions are worked out on your earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year before tax. Earnings include wages, overtime, bonuses and commission, and statutory pay such as Statutory Sick Pay and Statutory Maternity Pay.

The legal minimum is 8% in total: at least 3% from your employer and 5% from you, including tax relief. Your scheme can set higher amounts. In some schemes your employer pays in more, so you can pay in less, as long as the total still reaches the minimum.

The government usually adds tax relief. Joining lowers your take-home pay, but it may mean you get more of an income-related benefit, or repay less of a student loan.

Your employer must pay the contributions to the pension scheme on time, usually by the 22nd of each month.

"My employer is not paying in, or has not enrolled me"

Check your payslips for pension deductions, and check with the pension scheme that your money and your employer's money are arriving. Raise it with your employer first.

If it is not put right, you can report it to The Pensions Regulator, for example missing payments to your pension or an employer not following its automatic enrolment duties. The Regulator cannot help with questions about your own pension benefits.

For a complaint about how your employer or pension scheme has dealt with your pension that has not been sorted out, The Pensions Ombudsman may be able to investigate. There are some things it cannot look at.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland the rules are in the Pensions (No. 2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008. They work the same way as in Great Britain: the same ages, the same earnings amounts, the same one-month opt-out and the same re-enrolment. The Department for Communities has no power to set different earnings amounts for Northern Ireland.

The Pensions Regulator and The Pensions Ombudsman cover Northern Ireland too. For dismissal or unfair treatment at work, contact the Labour Relations Agency (LRA): claims go to an industrial tribunal, not an employment tribunal.

Deadlines you must meet

• Opting out with a full refund: within one calendar month of the later of your enrolment date and the date you got the letter.
• Your refund: within one month of your employer getting your valid opt-out notice.
• An opt-out notice that was not filled in properly: up to six weeks to put it right.
• A delayed enrolment date: up to 3 months, longer in some defined benefit schemes.
• Rejoining after opting out: your employer must accept you once in any 12-month period.
• Re-enrolment after opting out: about every 3 years.
• A tribunal claim about dismissal or unfair treatment: your exact date depends on your facts. The tribunal deadline checker works it out.

Money figures

• Earnings trigger for automatic enrolment, 2026-27: more than £10,000 a year (more than £833 a month or £192 a week).
• Lower level of qualifying earnings, 2026-27: £6,240 a year (£520 a month or £120 a week).
• Upper level of qualifying earnings, 2026-27: £50,270 a year.
• These amounts are the same as in 2025-26. The government reviews them every tax year.

Traps

• The £10,000 decides whether you are put in automatically. The £6,240 is where the earnings used for contributions start. They are different amounts.
• If you earn more than £6,240 a year and ask to join, your employer has to pay in too.
• A late letter from your employer moves the start of your one month.
• Opting out means losing your employer's payments into your pension, not just your own.
• Missing the one month does not lock you in: you can stop paying in at any time, but money already paid in usually stays in the pension.
• Two small jobs are not added together to reach the trigger.
• Opting out is not for good: your employer will put you back in about every 3 years if you still qualify.