Automatic enrolment: review of the earnings trigger and qualifying earnings band for 2025/26

Earlier this year, DWP published their review of the automatic enrolment earnings trigger and qualifying earnings band for 2025/26. The Secretary of State considered the latest analytical evidence and the policy objectives and concluded that the existing threshold of £10,000 for the earnings trigger remains the correct level and it has been maintained for 2025/2026.
The lower limit of the qualifying earnings band for 2025/26 stays at £6,240 and the upper limit is £50,270.

If you would like to know more please visit Review of the earnings trigger and qualifying earnings band for 2025/26.

Salary Sacrifice: what it is and why employers use it

At Nest, we understand how rising costs might be affecting your clients’ business and their employees.

The recently announced increase in the employer national insurance contribution rate, which comes into force in April, has prompted questions about pensions salary sacrifice, and the benefits to both employers and their workers.

Pension contributions can be paid to Nest via salary sacrifice, and we have resources to help you understand what you need to consider and how to set it up, ensuring you avoid common pitfalls, such as meeting the minimum wage requirements.

Find out more about salary sacrifice with Nest.

How your clients’ investments are performing

To keep you up to date on how your clients’ investments are performing, we have produced a short video where our Chief Investment Officer, Elizabeth Fernando discuss what happened across markets in Q4 and what to expect in 2025.

For more detail you can read our latest Quarterly Investment Report.

The latest Corporate Adviser Pensions Average (CAPA) data, as at 30/09/2024 is shown in the chart below. It shows that Nest is delivering returns above the market average and doing so at significantly lower levels of investment risk, particularly when compared with the other top 10 defined contribution pension providers.

Source: Corporate Adviser Pensions Average (CAPA) data showing five year annualised gross returns and levels of risk for the main default fund(s) of each provider for the asset mix for a member 30 years from retirement age. Data as at 30/09//2024. Top 10 providers included are: Legal & General, Aviva, Scottish Widows, Aegon, Standard Life, Fidelity, Nest, People Pension, Mercer and Royal London.

Helping your clients engage their employees with their pension

At Nest, we’ve teamed up with ex-accountant and social media star Devamsha, with over 130,000 followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, to help our members take charge of their pension. In this series of six bite-sized videos, she talks to a range of Nest experts to answer important questions like:

  • How much should I be saving?
  • Could I get extra money for my pot?
  • If I die, how can I make sure my pension goes to a loved one?

Share these videos with your clients to help them drive member engagement with their employees.

In addition to the Pensions made simple videos, we also provide access for your clients to our employee engagement toolkit. It is packed with everything from email templates, posters, flyers and more, our toolkit will help your clients make pensions part of their employee communication strategy.

Access the toolkits.

Need extra support navigating the Nest system?

As a busy professional, you’re probably keen to find out all the ways we can make managing your Nest pension as painless as possible.

Go here to see videos that give our top troubleshooting tips.

Still need help working through any issues you’re having using Nest for your clients, we’re offering one-to-one 30-minute review calls with our in-house experts. To book yours, email events@nestcorporation.org.uk.

Dates for your diary

If you would like to meet colleagues from Nest face to face, we will be attending the following events: