Declaration of compliance: a step-by-step guide
Every employer with at least one member of staff must file a declaration of compliance with The Pensions Regulator within five calendar months of their automatic enrolment duties start date [1]. The form itself can take as little as 15 minutes once the right information is to hand, but missing the deadline exposes the employer to a fixed penalty of £400 followed by daily escalating penalties [2].
The declaration is not a payment or a pension return. It is a formal statement telling the regulator how the employer has met its auto-enrolment duties, and it must be completed even by employers who had nobody to enrol [1].
This guide explains what the declaration is, who has to file it, which employers instead tell the regulator they are not an employer, the information to gather beforehand, how to submit it, and how the process repeats every three years at re-enrolment.
Key takeaways
- The deadline is five calendar months from the duties start date.
- Every employer with staff must declare, even with nobody enrolled.
- The regulator needs the PAYE reference, the letter code and scheme details.
- Director-only businesses tell the regulator they are not an employer instead.
- A missed deadline starts at a £400 fixed penalty.
- Re-declaration is required every three years after re-enrolment.
What the declaration of compliance is
The declaration of compliance is an online form submitted through The Pensions Regulator that confirms how an employer has discharged its automatic enrolment duties [2]. It records how many people worked for the employer on the duties start date, how many were automatically enrolled, and how many were already in a pension scheme [1].
Filing it is a legal duty that sits with the employer, even when an accountant or payroll provider completes the form on their behalf [6]. It is the final step in the wider set of duties covered in this guide to auto-enrolment explained, following assessment, enrolment and the first contributions [2]. The regulator treats the numbers as a compliance record, so they must account for everyone on the payroll on the duties start date exactly [1].
Who must complete one
Any business that employs at least one worker has a duty to declare, and the duty stands even where no one met the criteria to be enrolled [2]. An employer with staff but nobody enrolled still files, confirming on the form that it assessed its workers and put none into a scheme [1]. Businesses running payroll for SMEs should treat the declaration as an unavoidable step, not a filing that only applies once staff are enrolled [2].
Director-only companies
A company whose only workers are directors without employment contracts is not an employer for automatic enrolment and does not file a declaration [8]. Instead, if it receives a letter from the regulator, it uses a separate online form to say it is not an employer [7].
The exemption is narrow. As soon as the company takes on someone other than a director, or a director signs an employment contract alongside other staff, the duty to assess and declare applies in the normal way [8]. A one-person company with a sole director should notify the regulator rather than ignore the correspondence [7].
The information to gather first
Most of the delay in filing comes from hunting for reference numbers, so the practical step is to collect them before opening the form [2]. The letter code and PAYE reference both appear on the automatic enrolment letters the regulator sends, and a lost letter code can be recovered through a dedicated lookup [4].
| Item | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Letter code | Any TPR automatic enrolment letter, or the letter-code lookup |
| PAYE reference | HMRC PAYE records for the business |
| Accounts office reference | HMRC, used as an alternative to the letter code |
| Pension scheme reference | The pension provider (EPSR or PSR number) |
| Worker numbers | Payroll records on the duties start date |
| Company details | Name, address, and Companies House or equivalent number |
With those to hand, the form is quick, because the online journey mainly asks the employer to enter figures it has already produced through payroll [3]. Employers using HMRC-recognised payroll software can usually pull the worker counts and scheme details straight from their assessment records rather than reconstructing them by hand [1].
How to submit it, step by step
The declaration is completed on the regulator's online service. The route is consistent for every employer [3].
- Gather the reference numbers and worker figures listed above [2].
- Sign in to the declaration of compliance service using the letter code and PAYE or accounts office reference [3].
- Enter the number of workers employed on the duties start date, the number enrolled, and the number already in a scheme [1].
- Add the pension scheme reference and confirm the scheme used [3].
- Check every figure, then submit before the five-month deadline [1].
Where postponement was used, the declaration cannot be completed until the postponement period has ended, which can leave a short gap before the deadline, so the figures are best prepared in advance [2]. Accountants filing on behalf of a book of clients often batch this work. A multi-client payroll dashboard keeps each client's worker counts and scheme references together so declarations do not become a last-minute scramble [6].
Re-declaration every three years
The declaration is not a one-off. Every three years the employer must re-enrol eligible staff who have left the scheme and then file a re-declaration confirming it has done so [5]. The re-declaration deadline is five calendar months from the third anniversary of the duties start date, and choosing a different re-enrolment assessment date does not move it [6].
Each subsequent cycle is measured from the previous re-enrolment date, so the obligation rolls forward indefinitely for as long as the business employs staff [5]. The re-declaration confirms the workplace pension contributions and re-enrolment have resumed for anyone who previously left the scheme [6]. The regulator is explicit that the declaration must be repeated at each cycle and is not satisfied by the original filing [9].
What happens if the deadline is missed
A late or missing declaration is enforced through a graduated penalty regime. It usually opens with guidance and a compliance notice, then escalates if the employer still does not act [2].
| Stage | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Fixed penalty notice | £400 flat fee |
| Escalating penalty notice | £50 to £10,000 per day, by employer size |
| Continued non-compliance | Civil enforcement and court action |
The fixed £400 penalty applies regardless of business size, while the daily escalating rate scales with headcount, so a larger payroll faces a far steeper cost for the same delay [2]. Filing on time is the only reliable way to avoid the regime entirely [1].
Conclusion
The declaration of compliance is short, but it is the point at which an employer's auto-enrolment work becomes a matter of record. It closes the loop on assessment and enrolment by telling the regulator, in exact numbers, what happened on the duties start date.
Treating it as a data-collection task rather than a form-filling task is what keeps it painless. An employer that has kept clean worker counts and scheme references through the year can declare in minutes, while the same employer scrambling for a lost letter code near the deadline is the one most likely to meet the penalty regime.
Frequently asked questions
When is the declaration of compliance deadline?
The declaration must be submitted within five calendar months of the employer's automatic enrolment duties start date [1]. The clock runs from the duties start date, not from the first payrun, and where postponement has been used the declaration cannot be completed until the postponement period ends [2].
Do I still declare if none of my staff were enrolled?
Yes. An employer with at least one worker must file even if nobody met the criteria to be enrolled, confirming on the form that it assessed its workers and put none into a scheme [1]. The only businesses that do not declare are those that are not employers, such as director-only companies without employment contracts, which instead notify the regulator separately [7].
What information do I need to complete the declaration?
The core items are the letter code, the PAYE or accounts office reference, the pension scheme reference, the worker numbers on the duties start date, and the company's registration details [3]. The letter code and PAYE reference appear on the automatic enrolment letters from the regulator, and a lost letter code can be recovered through the online lookup [4].
How often does the declaration have to be done?
After the initial declaration, a re-declaration is required every three years following re-enrolment [5]. The deadline is five calendar months from the third anniversary of the duties start date, and the cycle then repeats from each subsequent re-enrolment date [6].
