Guernsey secondary pensions: enrolment, contributions and reporting

Who this applies to

The official guidance applies to employees resident in Guernsey, Herm, Jethou or Alderney. A designated employee is between age 16 and State Pension Age, not in full-time education, and expected to earn more than the annual social-insurance lower earnings limit. Assess residence, age, education and expected earnings; do not decide solely from one payday or nationality. Confirm precise age-boundary treatment against the Law for a boundary case. Employer guidance.

A non-automatically-enrolled employee aged between 16 and 75 can request to join as a voluntary employee. The employer must enrol an eligible requester, but the Law does not require an employer contribution for that voluntary status. A later change to designated status changes the duties. Employer guidance; contribution guidance.

The historical operative dates use the headcount reported for 30 June 2024: 26+ employees, 1 July 2024; 11–25, 1 October 2024; 6–10, 1 January 2025; 2–5, 1 July 2025; one, 1 October 2025. These phases have passed by the Guide's date. Do not allocate a fresh grace period simply because current headcount falls in another band. Newly established-employer treatment needs confirmation separately. Employer guidance.

Rates, bands and thresholds

Item	2026 amount	Source
Employer minimum, designated employee	1%	Contribution table
Employee minimum in standard split	1.5%	Contribution table
Combined standard minimum	2.5%	Contribution table
Annual social-insurance lower earnings limit used for eligibility	£9,984	2026 leaflet, pp19–20; eligibility test
Weekly / monthly upper earnings limit	£3,780 / £16,380	2026 leaflet, p19; pension base guidance

The employer can cover the whole combined minimum but cannot make the employee pay the employer's share. Contract/scheme rates can be higher. A voluntary employee must contribute at least the minimum employee rate; an employer contribution is optional under this statutory category, subject to contractual obligations. Employer duties; contribution guidance.

The published schedule rises to 2% employer plus 2% employee in 2027. That is not the 2026 rate. Use the rate for the pay period, not a scheme's first-year rate restarted on joining. Contribution table.

The base

The guidance uses the social-security earnings calculation, including commission, bonuses, overtime and employer-collected/distributed tips. Direct customer-to-employee tips are excluded from its stated pension base. Contributions apply to all qualifying earnings up to the upper limit, including earnings below the lower limit, rather than only the excess over that limit. Calculate weekly or monthly in line with payroll. Eligibility and the contribution base are different tests. Contribution guidance, calculation.

Record benefits and dividends using the payroll Guide. The pension guidance includes dividends and apportionment where limits are exceeded; confirm the relevant period and avoid treating distributions as automatically outside pension earnings. This Guide does not independently resolve every distribution or absence case. Contribution guidance.

A fall below the expected earnings threshold requires a fresh status/contract review. The guidance says to leave the employee enrolled but distinguishes continued deductions and employer obligations. Do not automatically deduct, stop, or refund contributions solely because one period is low. Contribution guidance, earnings below the limit.

Deadlines and filing

Obtain provider confirmation that the scheme meets the legal standards. A defined-benefit scheme also requires actuarial confirmation. Where membership is not compulsory under the employment contract, the guidance requires offering the employer scheme or Your Island Pension and providing the applicable enrolment notice. Silence is not an opt-out. The detailed notice form and its deadline must be checked for the case. Employer duties.

Designated enrolment can be deferred for at most three months, with the required deferred-enrolment notice on or before the first day. The period relates to the first three months with the employer, not each renewed contract. Contributions start on enrolment after a permitted deferral and are not backdated to day one. Voluntary requests require enrolment within one month of request or three months of the last opt-out, whichever is later. Employer duties; contribution guidance.

Pay contributions to the pension provider according to its payment arrangements. Do not use the Revenue Service return deadline as authority to delay pension remittance. Every employer must electronically report quarterly to Revenue Service within 15 days of quarter-end: 15 April, 15 July, 15 October and 15 January. The report includes scheme status and employer/employee contributions. Contribution guidance; secondary pensions overview.

Scheme choice from 12 May 2026

Regulation 1 of the 2026 Penalties and Miscellaneous Provisions Regulations requires an employer not using the Guernsey and Alderney Pension Trust as its approbated scheme, before enrolment under sections 2, 4(3)(b) or 5(1)(b), to offer the employee the choice of the employer’s approbated scheme or the Trust and provide a key-features comparison. Give at least seven days to elect; absent an election the employer can choose the scheme. Keep the comparison, dated election opportunity, response/default and enrolment evidence. This statutory scheme-choice step is separate from a right to opt out of contractually compulsory membership. Do not replace the seven-day choice period with silence-as-opt-out or an invented waiver. 2026 Regulations rr1,8, effective 12 May 2026.

Opt-out, refund and re-enrolment

If membership is contractually compulsory, the guidance says the employee cannot opt out. Otherwise obtain a written opt-out; verbal instructions are insufficient. Keep the notice for seven years, separately from other payroll retention requirements. Employers must not offer incentives to opt out or dismiss an employee for remaining enrolled. Opt-out guidance.

Opting out within the first six weeks returns the employer and employee contributions; after six weeks, prior contributions remain in the pension pot. Agree the initial-period handling with the provider rather than assuming all contributions can be immediately invested or retained indefinitely by the employer. Contribution guidance.

For a designated employee who opts out, track the opt-out date and the three-year anniversary. The employer guidance allows up to three months after that anniversary to complete re-enrolment and requires a re-enrolment notice. Voluntary employees instead need monitoring for a change to designated status. Employer duties; opt-out guidance.

Penalties and interest

From 12 May 2026, regulations 2–4 set a £150 fixed penalty, an escalating penalty of £50 per day for the first 30 chargeable days and £100 per day thereafter, and a review-application period of 30 days from issue of the penalty or notice. These amounts operate through the Law’s specified fixed/escalating notice provisions; a payroll error does not itself prove all statutory notice prerequisites. Keep compliance notices, issue/service dates, chargeable periods, remedy evidence and any review decision. This Guide has not fully reconciled the Law’s notice prerequisites, criminal offence elements, further appeal or interest, so these are not an automatic total-exposure calculator. 2026 Regulations rr2–4,8. Do not import income-tax or social-insurance penalties into this separate regime. Employer guidance; secondary pensions overview.

Cross-border points

The residence condition above is specific to the secondary-pension regime. A foreign social-insurance certificate or an income-tax treaty outcome does not, on the sources verified here, establish a secondary-pension exemption. Foreign schemes require confirmation that they satisfy the scheme standards. Keep scheme eligibility and social-insurance/tax relief as separate checks. Employer scope; scheme requirements.

Two worked examples that recompute

Ordinary designated employee. Assume valid enrolment, a standard minimum split, an ordinary full month and £3,000 qualifying earnings. Employer pension is £30, employee pension £45, combined £75. These are separate from Class 1 social insurance and ETI.

name: Guernsey 2026 minimum secondary pension ordinary month
inputs:
  qualifying_earnings: 3000
  monthly_cap: 16380
  employer_rate: 0.01
  employee_rate: 0.015
steps:
  - base: min(qualifying_earnings, monthly_cap)
  - employer_pension: round(base * employer_rate, 2)
  - employee_pension: round(base * employee_rate, 2)
  - combined_pension: employer_pension + employee_pension
expected:
  employer_pension: 30
  employee_pension: 45
  combined_pension: 75

Upper-cap case. On the same assumptions but £20,000 qualifying monthly earnings, use £16,380 as the base. Employer pension is £163.80 and employee pension £245.70, combined £409.50. Do not subtract the lower earnings limit before applying the rates. A higher contractual base or contribution obligation still needs separate assessment. Both examples: contribution guidance and 2026 cap.

name: Guernsey 2026 secondary pension monthly cap
inputs:
  qualifying_earnings: 20000
  monthly_cap: 16380
  employer_rate: 0.01
  employee_rate: 0.015
steps:
  - base: min(qualifying_earnings, monthly_cap)
  - employer_pension: round(base * employer_rate, 2)
  - employee_pension: round(base * employee_rate, 2)
  - combined_pension: employer_pension + employee_pension
expected:
  base: 16380
  employer_pension: 163.80
  employee_pension: 245.70
  combined_pension: 409.50

Ask the client first

• What are the employee's residence, age, education and expected annual earnings?
• What is the employment start date and any earlier service with the employer?
• Is pension membership compulsory in the contract, and what rates does it promise?
• Which scheme is approved, and what payment/initial-refund arrangements apply?
• What notices, opt-outs and enrolment dates are documented?
• Which earnings, benefits, distributions and absence periods enter the calculation?

Sources

All frontmatter sources were read on 22 October 2026. Exact page titles, URLs and hashes are in the accompanying research record. The guide is based on authority guidance, with direct statutory reconciliation still outstanding. The full 2026 Penalties and Miscellaneous Provisions Regulations were additionally read on 27 October 2026. Regulation 5 also changes the permitted pension commutation/transfer conditions: age-50 tax-law commutation rules, the specified two-calendar-year non-residence/request window, UK Public Sector Transfer Club transfer, and the qualified-medical-practitioner life-expectancy condition require scheme/underlying-Law review before payment. None is an automatic payroll refund.

Additional primary source	Read scope	Read on
Secondary Pensions Penalties and Miscellaneous Provisions Regulations 2026	Full rr1–8: scheme election, fixed/escalating penalty, review period, schedule amendments and 12 May commencement	2026-10-27

Not yet confirmed: full underlying-Law notice prerequisites, new-employer commencement, precise age boundaries and absence/status changes, specialist/foreign schemes, full enforcement/appeal/interest and commutation/transfer eligibility. The fresh independent whole-pack review and bounded contribution-assessment closure accept this explicitly partial draft; professional attestation remains pending. Neither this file's presence nor its arithmetic checks establish comprehensive pension or country coverage.

Disclaimer

General working-paper reference only. A qualified professional must verify current law, scheme documents and the employee's facts before filing, paying or acting on this source-cited draft.

Contributed by Michael Cutajar.