Auto Enrolment
3 December 2025
The pension auto-enrolment is set to commence on 1 January 2026. This is a new mandatory retirement savings scheme (“My Future Fund”) for employees, aged between 23 to 60, who earn in excess of €20,000 per annum, where these employees are not already part of a workplace pension scheme.
The scheme is run by the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) and supervised by the Pensions Authority.
Summary
The amount payable by the employee is based on a percentage of the employee’s annual salary. An employer must match the employee’s contributions (*subject to certain limits), and the Government will also contribute an additional amount.
Both the employee and the employer will each pay 1.5% of the employee’s gross annual salary in the first year. This will increase as follows to 6% by year 10:
|
Years |
Employee |
Employer |
Government |
|
1–3 |
1.5% |
1.5% |
0.5% |
|
4–6 |
3.0% |
3.0% |
1.0% |
|
7–9 |
4.5% |
4.5% |
1.5% |
|
10+ |
6.0% |
6.0% |
2.0% |
Example of a worker earning €20,000 per year
|
Years |
Employee € |
Employer € |
Government € |
Total € |
|
1–3 |
300 |
300 |
100 |
700 |
|
4–6 |
600 |
600 |
200 |
1,400 |
|
7–9 |
900 |
900 |
300 |
2,100 |
|
10+ |
1,200 |
1,200 |
400 |
2,800 |
Both the employer’s and the Government’s percentage contributions are capped based on a gross annual salary of €80,000 per annum. If the employee earns more than €80,000 gross per annum, the employee can still contribute but the employer and the Government won’t match the employee’s contributions on any income over €80,000.
Employee contributions made under auto-enrolment do not qualify for income tax relief, which differs to the relief available for employee contributions under an occupational pension scheme.
Opting out
Employees can opt out of auto-enrolment between month 6 and month 8. In this case, the employee’s own contributions will be refunded. The employer and government contributions remain in the fund.
The opt-out window also applies after contribution rate changes, but refunds will only cover employee contributions made from the rate change.
Automatic re-enrolment
If an employee leaves the scheme or suspends contributions, employees will be automatically re-enrolled after 2 years (if employees still qualify).
Opting in
Employees may opt in if:
- Employees are under 23 or over 60, or
- Employees earn less than €20,000,
- Employees are not already in a pension plan.
Class S PRSI (self-employed or proprietary directors) are not required to participate in the auto-enrolment pension.