What is a ‘staging date’?
Every employer will have a date from when the automatic enrolment duties come into force for their business. This is called an employer’s ‘staging date’. Automatic enrolment is being staged in over a period of six years, which started with the largest employers in 2012.
Staging dates are based on the size of an employer’s PAYE scheme on 1 April 2012 – the more people in the PAYE scheme at that time, the earlier the staging date. If you use more than one PAYE scheme, your staging date is based on the total number of people in the largest one that you use.
Staging dates were determined based on the latest PAYE scheme information from HMRC held by us at 1 April 2012.
If you made any changes to your PAYE scheme before this date, they may not be reflected in the data from HMRC
How do I find out my staging date?
You can find out your staging date by entering your PAYE reference into our staging date tool. If you use more than one PAYE scheme, you’ll need to enter the reference for each one you use. Your staging date will be the one that’s earliest.
It’s important that you have the right PAYE reference and enter it correctly so you get the right staging date.
You can find your PAYE reference on a P6 / P9 coding notice. It can also be found on your yellow payslip booklet, P30BC.
If you’ve had any letters from us about your automatic enrolment duties, your staging date is also printed on these letters.
There are some circumstances where the tool won’t be able to give you the right staging date, for example if you set up in business after 1 April 2012.
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