A declaration of compliance in the context of UK pensions refers to a formal statement made by the employer to the Pensions Regulator confirming that they have met their legal duties regarding automatic enrolment into an occupational pension scheme.

Under UK law, employers are required to automatically enrol eligible workers into a qualifying pension scheme and make contributions to their pension savings. The declaration of compliance serves as confirmation that the employer has fulfilled these obligations, including assessing their workforce, enrolling eligible employees, and making the required contributions. This declaration must be submitted to the Pensions Regulator within five months of the employer's duties start date, which is the date they are required to start complying with automatic enrollment duties. Failure to submit a declaration of compliance or to comply with automatic enrollment duties can result in penalties from the Pensions Regulator.

The Pensions Regulator provides a checklist for employers to carefully prepare their declarations. It is available here. Note that this is something that you can only do and submit after you've assessed all your employees based in the UK, and enrolled the eligible ones. You can find relevant details to fill in your declaration of compliance in your Kota account, on your UK Pension page, by clicking on the 'Complete the Declaration of Compliance' arrow.

Once you have everything ready, you can use that same link to submit your declaration.