Auto-enrolment re-enrolment and re-declaration of compliance: the three-year deadline

Workplace pension duties do not end when an employer first enrols its staff. Every three years, each employer must re-enrol eligible staff who have opted out or stopped contributing, and then complete a re-declaration of compliance with The Pensions Regulator (TPR). Because it only comes round once every three years, it is easy for both the client and the practice to forget.

How the cycle works

1. Re-enrolment date. Each employer chooses a re-enrolment date within a 6-month window: from 3 months before to 3 months after the third anniversary of its duties start date (its staging date or the date it first employed staff).
2. Re-enrolment. On that date the employer assesses its staff and puts eligible jobholders back into the pension scheme.
3. Re-declaration. The employer must complete the re-declaration of compliance with TPR within 5 months of the third anniversary of its duties start date.

The re-declaration is required even if no one needed to be re-enrolled.

Example

An employer whose duties started on 1 March 2020 had its third anniversaries on 1 March 2023 and 1 March 2026. For the 2026 cycle it could choose a re-enrolment date between 1 December 2025 and 1 June 2026, and the re-declaration must be completed by 1 August 2026. The next cycle falls around 1 March 2029.

Penalties

TPR enforces these duties actively. An employer that misses the re-declaration can receive a compliance notice, then a fixed penalty of £400, followed by escalating daily penalties that depend on the number of staff. The penalties are the employer’s, but the relationship damage often lands on the adviser who was meant to remind them.

Practical tips for practices

1. Record the duties start date for every employer client. It never changes, and every future cycle follows from it.
2. Record the date of each re-declaration, so you know which cycle has been completed.
3. Remember employers with no staff. A company that has ceased employing staff should tell TPR rather than simply ignore the letters.
4. Link it to payroll. If you run the payroll, the re-enrolment assessment usually happens in your software anyway.

In Deadlio, set Auto-enrolment to Enrolled, enter the Duties start date and the Last re-declaration submitted. Deadlio calculates the next re-declaration deadline, and Mark done records the declaration and moves the client to the next three-year cycle.

Related guides

• AML client review cycle
• Corporation Tax payment deadline
• Self Assessment deadlines
• All deadline guides

This guide is general information for accountancy practices and is not a substitute for checking The Pensions Regulator’s current guidance. Last reviewed October 2026.