Employer retirement and pension duties: US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It reports employer duties as the offices word them, with the figures they publish. Leave and sick pay are on the guide to benefits and leave.

United States

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) page on small employer retirement plans in economic downturns, last reviewed or updated on June 28, 2026, says an employer is not required to have a retirement plan for its employees and may terminate one for various reasons. It adds that on terminating a plan, all participants become 100% vested in any non-vested account balances or accrued benefits. The page does not set an employer contribution rate. Federal payroll taxes are separate, and the guide on business records by country reports the IRS record rules for them.

United Kingdom

GOV.UK says employers have to provide a workplace pension scheme for eligible staff as soon as their first member of staff starts working for them, which it calls the duties start date. It says an employer is usually an employer if it deducts tax and National Insurance contributions from an employee's wages. The page lists who must be enrolled, with an employer's contribution made for all staff who:

are aged between 22 and the State Pension age;
earn at least £10,000 a year;
normally work in the UK, including people based in the UK who travel abroad for work.

It says staff who become eligible because of a change in age or earnings must be put into the scheme and written to within 6 weeks of the day they meet the criteria. On the amount, it says an employer must pay at least 3% of an employee's qualifying earnings into the staff pension scheme, and that under most schemes qualifying earnings are total earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year before tax. It says total earnings include salary or wages, bonuses and commission, overtime, Statutory Sick Pay and statutory maternity, paternity or adoption pay. Contributions are deducted from pay each month and paid in by the 22nd day of the following month (the 19th if paid by cheque). The page says an employer may be fined for paying late or for not paying the minimum.

A second GOV.UK page covers ongoing duties. It says staff are re-enrolled by a re-enrolment date that falls 3 years after the first member of staff starts and every 3 years after that, and that a declaration of compliance is completed each time. It says records of how an employer has met its duties are kept for 6 years, except requests to leave the scheme, which are kept for 4 years.

Canada

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) page on the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) says an employer must also contribute an amount equal to the CPP contributions that it deducts from employees. It gives the employee rate as 4.95% on pensionable earnings from 2003 to 2018, increased gradually from 4.95% to 5.95% from 2019 to 2023, with employers making an equal contribution. It says that from 2024 a second, higher earnings ceiling applies, and that employers and employees pay CPP2 at 4.0% on those earnings. The page details carry the date July 15, 2026.

New Zealand

Inland Revenue says an employer makes a compulsory contribution to a KiwiSaver scheme or complying fund each time it pays salary or wages. Its page on employer contributions, last updated on July 28, 2026, calls them compulsory employer contributions and says the lowest rate is 3.5% of an employee's gross salary or wages unless the employee is on a temporary rate reduction. It says the contribution applies to employees aged 16 and over and under 65, who are in KiwiSaver or a complying fund and are not members of a defined benefit scheme. It says employer superannuation contribution tax (ESCT) is paid on all employer contributions, and that an employer can lower its contribution to 3% to match an employee's temporary rate reduction.

Australia

business.gov.au says that under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, employers must make super contributions for eligible employees into a complying super fund or retirement savings account. It says the super guarantee (SG) rate is 12% of an employee's qualifying earnings, with a higher rate possible if an award or enterprise agreement sets one, and that contributions are paid in addition to wages. It says SG is paid for employees aged 18 or over, which includes company directors and some contractors, and for staff under 18 who work more than 30 hours a week. A sole trader or a partner in a partnership does not need to pay themselves the SG.

On timing, the page says Payday Super rules started on July 1, 2026, and that employers must pay SG when they pay salary and wages instead of every quarter. It says contributions must reach the employee's super fund within 7 business days of payday, or up to 20 days in some circumstances such as a first contribution to a fund or a new employee.

At a glance

Country	Employer duty as stated	Rate or minimum
United States	No requirement to have a plan	Not applicable
United Kingdom	Workplace pension for eligible staff	At least 3% of qualifying earnings
Canada	Match employee CPP contributions	Equal to the employee amount; CPP2 at 4.0%
New Zealand	Compulsory KiwiSaver contribution	Lowest rate 3.5% of gross pay
Australia	Super guarantee	12% of qualifying earnings