Payroll journey
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There is no single workplace pension provider that is right for every new employer. Start with the schemes that can accept your workforce, then compare the tax-relief method, employer and member charges, payroll workflow, employee experience, support and correction process.
The decision is not complete when an online signup form accepts your company. Before choosing, prove that your payroll can calculate the scheme basis correctly, send the required worker and contribution data, receive a clear acceptance or rejection, correct errors and reconcile the payment to each member.
This guide focuses on five well-known providers that many UK employers consider: NEST, The People's Pension, Smart Pension, NOW: Pensions and Penfold. Other qualifying workplace pension schemes are available, and your payroll provider, accountant or authorised adviser may identify a better fit for your circumstances.
The five detailed profiles are a practical cross-section of schemes on TPR's current small-employer list. They cover different employer charges, member charging structures, tax-relief methods, payroll submission routes and administration models. Inclusion is illustrative: it is not a popularity claim, regulated recommendation or complete market ranking.
We compared the public employer information available on 28 July 2026 against the same operational criteria:
Provider facts came from TPR and the providers' official employer documentation. The shortlist tool applies these operational criteria consistently but does not assess investment suitability, predict returns or replace regulated financial advice. Other qualifying schemes may be a better fit, so employers should obtain current terms and apply the same checks to every serious candidate.
Five providers to investigate
Published characteristics checked 28 July 2026. Follow each source and obtain current terms before choosing.
Situation
First payroll or fewer than 10 employees
Start by checking
NEST and Penfold
Both currently publish no-employer-fee propositions and routes suitable for small employers.
Verify: Member charges, payroll-software fees and who handles exceptions.
Situation
Accountant or payroll bureau manages pensions
Start by checking
The bureau's proven list; often NOW: Pensions, The People's Pension or Smart Pension
The operational route and responsibility boundary matter more than a logo on a compatibility page.
Verify: The complete bureau fee and ownership of uploads, payments and corrections.
Situation
Mostly part-time or variable-pay workers
Start by checking
Relief-at-source and net-pay options side by side
Tax-relief timing, zero-contribution periods and member charges can affect this workforce differently.
Verify: Current HMRC low-earner top-ups and real payroll examples.
Situation
Employee app and digital experience matter
Start by checking
Penfold and Smart Pension
Both publish app-led member experiences alongside employer administration.
Verify: Non-digital support, accessibility, member charges and investment information.
Situation
Expected growth or several payroll groups
Start by checking
NEST, Smart Pension and NOW: Pensions
Each publishes multi-employer or larger-scale administration capabilities.
Verify: Permissions, multiple groups, bulk changes, reporting and escalation.
| Provider | Employer cost | Tax relief | Payroll route | Check first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEST | No employer fee for ordinary setup and use; payroll or adviser services may charge separately. | Relief at source | Manual entry, file upload or direct payroll exchange where the payroll product supports NEST web services. | Confirm the exact submission route available from your payroll product and how it handles rejected schedules. |
| The People's Pension | A one-off setup charge applies; confirm the current amount for direct or intermediary signup. | Relief at source by default | Employee data file upload, with direct integration available for supported payroll products. | Use its payroll compatibility checker and confirm whether your employer arrangement uses relief at source or net pay. |
| Smart Pension | Pricing varies by employer size and whether signup is direct or through a bureau or adviser. | Net pay arrangement | Payroll integrations plus PAPDIS or API routes where supported; employer portal supports contribution review. | Obtain the employer and member charges that apply to your proposal and verify the supported payroll route. |
| NOW: Pensions | Published monthly charge: £36 + VAT direct, or £12.50/£20 + VAT through a payroll bureau, depending on active members. | Net pay arrangement | CSV pension data files, with a separate payroll-bureau route for supported bureaux. | Compare direct and bureau administration costs and confirm who owns file upload, correction and payment deadlines. |
| Penfold | No employer account, setup, contribution or switching fees are currently published. | Relief at source | Direct integrations for selected products, with PAPDIS or CSV upload for a wider software range. | Check whether your payroll route is a direct integration or an exported file, especially where several schemes are used. |
Many comparison pages start with investment brands or headline charges. A first-time employer should start with the operating facts.
Write down:
Do not ask only, "Does the provider integrate with payroll?" Ask what the integration actually does. An integration might send contributions but not enrolments. It might support one payroll product but not the edition you use. It may not handle corrections, split schemes or a worker who has changed payroll ID.
Neutral shortlisting guide
Choose the closest answers. Nothing is stored or sent, and the result is not financial advice or a provider recommendation.
Starting shortlist
The shortlist is a starting point. Ask each shortlisted provider the same questions and keep its answers with the scheme-selection record. If a provider cannot explain its current charges, tax-relief method, payroll route and correction process clearly, the employer does not yet have enough evidence to choose it.
A small employer may value a provider with no employer setup charge, manual entry for occasional changes and a payroll route that does not require specialist implementation. NEST and Penfold currently publish no-employer-fee propositions, but that does not make either automatically cheaper overall. Compare member charges, payroll-software fees and the time required every pay period.
Test who will run the process when the usual owner is absent. A five-person employer still needs to assess a new starter, process a valid opt-out, pay contributions on time and retain evidence.
Care, hospitality, retail and seasonal employers can have frequent starters, postponements, fluctuating assessments, opt-outs and leavers. Give more weight to bulk employee changes, clear validation, visible rejected records, opt-out refunds and a supported correction process.
Ask the provider to demonstrate a fictional case: a worker is enrolled, changes payroll ID, opts out after a contribution file has been submitted and then receives a corrected final payment. Record which system owns each action.
The provider must accept the workers who need access to the scheme, but payroll still assesses them using the correct pay reference period. Irregular pay can create periods with no contribution, later automatic enrolment and more reconciliation exceptions.
Tax relief also matters. Relief at source and net pay arrangements produce different payslip and HMRC flows. Current HMRC top-up rules for eligible low earners in net pay arrangements mean older articles may no longer describe the complete position. Use current guidance and model real workforce examples before deciding.
Ask the bureau which providers and submission routes it actively supports, not which logos appear on its website. Confirm whether the bureau's service includes scheme setup, worker assessment, statutory communications, provider uploads, contribution payments, rejected-record corrections and declaration support.
NOW: Pensions publishes separate direct-employer and payroll-bureau charges. Other providers offer delegate, adviser or bureau access in different forms. Compare the complete bureau fee and responsibility boundary with the provider's direct route.
Check the pension workflow before authorising the payroll migration. The old software may export a file that the provider accepts while the new software requires a different provider reference, group name, contribution basis or integration setup.
Run a controlled test using fictional or safe test data. Confirm enrolments, current and year-to-date contribution values where relevant, opt-outs, leavers and provider identifiers. Only one authorised process should send the live contribution record for a period.
The easiest setup today may not be the easiest administration later. Ask how the provider handles delegated users, approval permissions, multiple payrolls, contribution groups, bulk changes, reporting, service escalation and acquisitions.
Growth does not mean choosing the biggest brand automatically. It means proving that the scheme and payroll workflow can absorb more records and exceptions without losing ownership or evidence.
There are three different costs to examine:
NEST currently publishes no ordinary employer fee, with a 1.8% member contribution charge and a 0.3% annual management charge. Penfold currently publishes no employer fee and member annual fees that vary by investment plan and pot value. NOW: Pensions publishes monthly employer service charges that differ between direct and bureau-managed routes. Smart Pension says employer pricing depends on employer size and signup route. The People's Pension applies a one-off employer setup charge and tells employers to confirm the amount for their route.
These structures are not directly interchangeable. A contribution charge affects new money, an annual percentage affects the accumulated pot, and a fixed annual charge can affect smaller pots differently. Obtain the latest illustrations and ask how charges apply to active members, deferred members, small pots and different investment choices.
The Pensions Regulator says a scheme can use one tax-relief method for the applicable workforce arrangement. The method affects payroll deductions, what appears on a payslip and whether an employee may need to claim further relief.
Payroll treatment
The scheme method controls the employee deduction and PAYE treatment. It must match the provider and payroll configuration.
The employee deduction is taken after PAYE. The provider claims basic-rate relief from HMRC.
A gross £100 employee contribution normally means £80 is deducted from pay and the provider claims £20.
The gross employee contribution is deducted before PAYE, so tax is calculated on the remaining taxable pay.
A £100 employee contribution reduces the pay exposed to Income Tax by £100; the provider does not claim basic-rate relief.
National Insurance is normally calculated before either ordinary employee pension deduction. Salary sacrifice is a separate contractual arrangement. Eligible low earners in net pay schemes may receive a later HMRC top-up under current rules, so check the maintained guidance rather than relying on older comparisons.
NEST and Penfold use relief at source. The People's Pension uses relief at source by default, although some employer arrangements may use net pay. Smart Pension and NOW: Pensions are listed by TPR under net pay arrangements. Confirm the actual scheme arrangement before configuring payroll because provider products and employer terms can change.
Under relief at source, a higher or additional-rate taxpayer may need to claim relief above the basic rate through HMRC. Under net pay, payroll normally gives relief at the employee's marginal rate automatically. Eligible low earners in net pay schemes may receive a later HMRC top-up under current rules. Salary sacrifice is different from both ordinary employee-contribution routes and requires its own employment, payroll and scheme setup.
Never select a payroll option because its label looks familiar. Confirm whether the provider expects the employee amount to be reported gross or net, which RTI pension field applies and how the amount should appear on the payslip.
A complete payroll-to-pension process has seven states:
Payroll produces a file and an authorised user uploads it to the provider. This can work well, but the employer must control the file version, provider reference, pay-period dates, employee identifiers and response.
Ask:
PAPDIS is a common payroll-to-pension data standard, but a PAPDIS export does not prove every provider-specific setting is correct.
A direct connection can remove downloads and re-keying. It does not remove the employer's responsibility to verify what was sent and accepted.
Confirm whether the connection supports:
An API call returning successfully may show that data reached an endpoint. It does not prove the values were correct, the payment arrived or the money was allocated to each member.
A bureau may assess workers, calculate contributions and send data, but the employer should still receive a reconciled summary and exception report. The bureau contract must state who authorises the scheme, issues communications, funds the payment, responds to provider messages and retains records.
NEST was established by government for automatic enrolment and says it is open to every UK company and its workers. It does not charge an ordinary employer fee. Employers can enrol workers manually, upload files or use direct payroll exchange where their software supports NEST web services.
NEST uses relief at source. Its published member charge combines a charge on contributions with an annual management charge, so compare the long-term effect with providers that use a different charging structure.
Start by checking the exact NEST workflow inside your payroll software. Confirm groups, pay periods, contribution basis, submission response and correction process rather than assuming that general NEST support means every task is automated.
The People's Pension is a master trust open to small employers on TPR's list. It applies a one-off setup charge and offers employee data file uploads, with direct payroll connections where supported.
Relief at source is the default tax method, but TPR notes that some employer arrangements may use net pay. Confirm the method in the participation documents and configure payroll to match.
It can enter a shortlist where a payroll product, accountant or bureau already has a proven operating route. Ask for the current setup fee, member charge schedule, supported software path and responsibility for communications and corrections.
Smart Pension is an authorised master trust offering employer and member portals, an app and payroll connectivity. It publishes payroll integration, PAPDIS and API routes for supported use cases. Its employer pricing varies by business size and whether signup is direct or through an intermediary.
Smart Pension is listed by TPR as using a net pay arrangement for this comparison. It may enter a shortlist where digital employee access, connected payroll data or growing administration matters.
Obtain a current quote rather than inferring the employer or member charge. Demonstrate the exact payroll route, contribution review, payment timing, adjustment and refund process before relying on the broader integration claim.
NOW: Pensions is an authorised master trust using a net pay arrangement. It publishes a direct-employer monthly charge and discounted payroll-bureau charges based on active membership. Its setup guidance asks employers to confirm that payroll can produce the required pension data file.
It may enter a shortlist where a bureau already supports the scheme or the employer wants a clearly priced managed route. Compare the monthly charge with the bureau's own fee and document who uploads data and handles provider responses.
Check contribution model choices, file validation, payment collection, employee communications and exceptional corrections. A lower bureau-linked provider charge does not show what the bureau includes.
Penfold publishes no employer account, setup, contribution or switching fee. It uses relief at source and offers an employee app. Its payroll routes include direct integrations for selected products and PAPDIS or CSV uploads for a wider range.
It may enter a shortlist where employee digital access, transparent employer pricing or a documented software connection matters. Check whether your payroll product has a direct integration or only an export-and-upload route.
Penfold's member charge varies by investment plan and pot value. Compare that charge, investment choices, non-digital support and correction workflows with the operational convenience.
As reviewed on 28 July 2026, TPR's list of schemes that told it they are open to small employers also includes Collegia Pension, Cushon Master Trust, The Lewis Workplace Pension Trust, Standard Life Workplace Pension and True Potential Investments.
The list can change, and schemes not listed by TPR may still be available and suitable. Use TPR's current choose-a-scheme page, confirm that the proposed scheme can be used for automatic enrolment and consider authorised advice where the workforce or benefits design is complex.
An employer can change the scheme it uses, but it should not simply close the old account and start deductions under a new name.
Plan:
Existing pension savings do not automatically move merely because future employer contributions use another provider. Whether pots remain, can transfer or move under another process depends on scheme rules and member or trustee arrangements. Do not give employees an unverified promise that their pots will be combined.
Changing provider does not reset the employer's original duties start date or remove continuing duties. If the employer or provider causes qualifying active membership to cease, immediate re-enrolment rules can apply. Obtain provider or authorised advice before creating a gap, and preserve the employer's existing cyclical re-enrolment and re-declaration controls.
Interactive checklist
0 of 18 complete. Progress stays on this device.
Do not sign up until every material answer has an owner and evidence. "The software handles it" is not an answer unless the exact product, task, response and exception route are identified.
Before closing the first live pension period, reconcile:
| Evidence | What to verify |
|---|---|
| Workforce assessment | Correct worker, assessment date, age/earnings outcome and enrolment action |
| Payroll calculation | Pensionable pay basis, employee amount, employer amount and tax-relief method |
| Provider data | Correct identifier, group, pay period and contribution values |
| Provider response | Accepted and rejected workers separated, with errors resolved |
| Cash payment | Amount, payment date and provider reference agree with the accepted schedule |
| Member allocation | Provider confirms the money reached the expected member records |
Keep the period open until differences are explained and corrected. Do not alter a payroll amount merely to make it agree with a provider record whose basis has not been verified.
Educational decision guide
Workmax can keep pension assessment inputs, payroll calculations and review evidence closer to the approved pay run. The employer should still verify the provider, scheme terms, tax-relief method, submission route, communications and payment responsibilities it needs.
An employer with one member of staff can have automatic-enrolment duties. The required action depends on the worker and the facts, not a minimum headcount. Use TPR's duties tool and the Workmax workplace-pension lesson.
NEST is open to employers and publishes no ordinary employer fee, but ease depends on the payroll route, workforce, tax method, member charges and support required. Compare it with other qualifying schemes rather than treating it as a statutory default.
The employer chooses the workplace scheme used for its duties. Employees may have choices within that scheme and can hold other pensions, but an employee's personal pension does not automatically replace the employer's automatic-enrolment process.
Check both sides. Ask the payroll supplier which provider features are supported in your exact product and ask the pension provider which route it recognises. Then test enrolments, contributions, rejections and corrections.
Neither is universally better. Compare the workforce tax profile, current low-earner top-up rules, higher-rate relief, payroll configuration and the schemes available. The selected provider arrangement determines the method payroll must use.
Yes, but the change requires scheme, payroll, membership, communication, payment and record controls. Existing pots do not automatically move, and an employer-caused break in qualifying membership can trigger immediate re-enrolment duties.
Reviewed 28 July 2026 by the Workmax payroll team under the Payroll Hub editorial standards. Provider prices, products and integrations can change. This guide is general educational information, not financial, investment, tax or legal advice, and it does not recommend or endorse a provider.
Start with TPR's provider-selection criteria and current small-employer scheme list. Then read the new-employer checklist, payroll-software selection lesson, workplace-pension duties lesson, pension contribution calculator and switching payroll providers guide.
Provider sources: NEST charges, NEST enrolment routes, The People's Pension payroll checker, Smart Pension charges, NOW: Pensions employer charges, NOW: Pensions setup, Penfold charges and Penfold payroll routes.
