In order to encourage more people to save for their retirement, the government has introduced new legislation that obligates UK employers to enrol their employees onto pension schemes, if they meet certain criteria.
The law states that all employees who meet these criteria will be enrolled automatically unless they opt out. Normally, both the employer and employee will contribute to the scheme.
The only exemption is for companies with only one director. In this situation, there are no workers to enrol, so you dont have to worry. Your spouse can also hold the position of company secretary/director without you having to enrol him or her automatically if they meet the following criteria:
- They don't work under a contract of employment (as an employee), or
- They don't have a contract to perform work or services personally and are undertaking the work as part of their own business
You will, however, need to inform the pensions regulator that you are not an employer.
https://automation.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/notanemployer