Legal Landscape

Related legislation

Royal Assent Title Description
11 February 2021 Pension Schemes Act 2021 The Act makes a number of provisions about pension schemes. Of relevance for the FPS are enhanced powers available to the Pensions Regulator and creation of the legislative framework for Pensions Dashboards.
25 April 2013 Public Service Pensions Act 2013  The primary legislation governing public service pension reform in 2015 (2014 for LGPS) is the 2013 Pensions Act. Often referred to as 'primary legislation' or the '2013 act' 
15 November 2011 Localism Act 2011 [Chapter 2] The Localism Act contains a wide range of measures to devolve more powers to councils and neighbourhoods and give local communities greater control over local decisions like housing and planning.
26 November 2008 Pensions Act 2008 This Act introduces two key requirements for employers:
  • To automatically enrol eligible jobholders who are not in a qualifying pension scheme into an automatic enrolment scheme.
  • To maintain the jobholder’s membership of a qualifying scheme, including making relevant contributions, so long as the jobholder chooses to be part of it.

Automatic Enrolment Trigger

The automatic enrolment and re-enrolment earnings trigger is the level of earnings at which employers are obliged to automatically enrol (and re-enrol) eligible jobholders into a qualifying workplace pension scheme.

Qualifying Earnings Band

Employers are then obliged to pay overall contributions at least equal to 8 per cent of a band of qualifying earnings made up of salary, wages, commission, bonuses, overtime and statutory sickness, maternity, paternity and adoption pay.

Following the end of contracting out in April 2016, GAD confirmed by letter that FPS England continues to meet the minimum requirements of a qualifying scheme for auto-enrolment.

Year SI Title
2021  2021/314 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2021
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £10,000
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £6,240
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £50,270
 
2020 2020/630 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2020
  2020/372 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2020
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £10,000
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £6,240
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £50,000
 
2019 2019/374 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2019
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £10,000
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £6,136
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £50,000
 
2018 2018/367 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2018
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £10,000
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £6,032
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £46,350
2017 2017/394 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2017
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £10,000
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £5,876
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £45,000
  2017/79 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2017
2016 2016/435 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2016
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £10,000
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £5,824
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £43,000
  2016/311 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2016 
2015 2015/501 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 
  2015/468 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2015
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £10,000
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £5,824
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £42,385
2014 2014/715 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014
  2014/623 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2014 
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £10,000
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £5,772
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £41,865
2013 2013/2556 The Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013
  2013/2328 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2013  
  2013/667 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2013
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £9,440
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £5,668
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £41,450
2012 2012/2691 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2012 
  2012/1506 The Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2012
  • Automatic Enrolment Trigger £8,105
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Lower Limit £5,564
  • Qualifying Earnings Band - Upper Limit £42,475
  2012/1477 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2012 
  2012/1257 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 
  2012/215 The Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 
2010 2010/772 The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) Regulations 2010

Date Title  
19 December 2022  The Public Service Pensions (Exercise of Powers, Compensation and Information) Directions 2022  (PDF, 41 pages, 563kb)
  The Public Service Pensions (Exercise of Powers, Compensation and Information) Directions 2022: Equality Impact Assessment  (PDF, 24 pages, 327kb)
  McCloud Remedy Interest Rate: Letter from Government Actuary's Department to HM Treasury (PDF, 12 pages, 753kb)
  McCloud Remedy Interest Rate: Letter from HM Treasury to Government Actuary's Department (PDF, 5 pages, 201kb)
7 October 2021 The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) (Amendment) Directions 2021 (PDF, 10 pages, 208kb)
30 March 2021 Direction by the Treasury - Section 59A of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 (replaces the Direction issued on 4 December 2018) (PDF, 6 pages, 131kb)
12 February 2021 The Exit Payment Cap Directions 2021 (HTML)
  Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments: Guidance on the 2020 Regulations (PDF, 9 pages, 156kb)
29 October 2020 Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments: HM Treasury Directions (PDF, 8 pages, 141kb) 
Amended December 2020 Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments: Guidance on the 2020 Regulations  (PDF, 27 pages, 280kb)
  Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments: Equalities Impact Assessment (PDF, 21 pages, 266kb)
14 February 2019 The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) (Amendment and Savings) Directions 2019 (PDF, 4 pages, 4,094kb)
4 December 2018 Direction by the Treasury - Section 59A of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 (Direction replaced by that issued on 30 March 2021) (PDF, 7 pages, 565kb)
  Guidance on the operation of pensions increase legislation for public service pension schemes (PDF, 67 pages, 746kb)
23 November 2018 The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) (Amendment) Directions 2018 (PDF, 9 pages, 13,040kb)
7 April 2016 Direction by the Treasury - Section 59A of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 (Direction replaced by that issued on 4 December 2018) (PDF, 6 pages, 299kb)
3 March 2015 The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) (Amendment) (No. 2) Directions 2015 (PDF, 1 page, 116kb)
13 February 2015 The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) (Amendment) Directions 2015 (PDF, 1 page, 113kb)
27 November 2014 The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) (Amendment) (No. 3) Directions 2014 (PDF, 2 pages, 125kb)
27 August 2014 The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) (Amendment) (No. 2) Directions 2014 (PDF, 2 pages, 31.9kb)
2 June 2014 The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) (Amendment) Directions 2014 (PDF, 1 page, 45.8kb)
11 March 2014 The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) Directions 2014 (PDF, 32 pages, 494kb)
  Public service pensions: actuarial valuations and the employer cost cap mechanism  (PDF, 44 pages, 347kb)
  The Public Service Pensions (Information about Benefits) Directions 2014 (PDF, 2 pages, 33.9kb)

In Force SI Title
19 March 2021 2021/197 The Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments (Revocation) Regulations 2021
4 November 2020 2020/1122 The Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments Regulations 2020
1 April 2015 2015/3138 The Public Service Pensions (Record Keeping and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2014
1 April 2014 2014/575 The Public Service Pensions (Employer Cost Cap) Regulations 2014