I have more than one job – how does this affect my pension?

If you have more than one job, each of your employers will check whether you qualify to automatically join their workplace pension scheme. They will base their decision on the level of your earnings with that employer, rather than your overall earnings with other employers. 

If you qualify, this means you’re classed as an ‘eligible jobholder’.

You’ll then be automatically enrolled into that employer’s workplace pension scheme. But you can then decide to opt out.

You can belong to more than one employer’s workplace pension scheme.

You might not qualify to be automatically enrolled in a workplace pension scheme with one or more of your employers. This means you’re either a ‘non-eligible jobholder’ or an ‘entitled worker’.

But, you can ask to join your employer’s workplace pension scheme.

If you are a ‘non-eligible jobholder’, your employer must contribute.

If you’re an ‘entitled worker’, your employer doesn’t have to contribute to your pension (although they might choose to do so anyway).

You might be asked to pay contributions, based on your pay from that employment, to each of the schemes you join.

What you get from each scheme when you retire might differ. This will depend on whether the scheme is defined benefit or defined contribution.

But the important thing is that you’ll be building up a pension that can give you an income in retirement.

If you leave an employer, or as you get close to the date when you can begin taking an income from your pensions, it might be possible to start bringing your pensions together.

There’s no restriction on the number of different pension schemes that you can belong to. However, there are limits on the total amounts that can be contributed across all schemes each year, if you’re to receive tax relief on contributions.