Commentary on Sections Part 1: Pension scheme membership for jobholders Chapter 1: Employers’ duties Section 15: Pay reference period
53.The pay reference period is the period of earnings over which the calculation is made to work out (a) whether the jobholder should be automatically enrolled (i.e. with earnings more than £5,035 per annum) and (b) to calculate the level of contributions that the jobholder and employer need to pay for money purchase schemes. While the qualifying earnings band established in section 13(1) is expressed in annual terms this section allows the Secretary of State to prescribe other periods, where section 13(2) will apply. Because of the different types of workers and different pay periods used by employers, there is a need to enable the pay reference period to be tailored to specific worker and payment type. For example, agency workers might require a much shorter calculation period than salaried employees.