1. What is Auto-enrolment?

Auto-enrolment is a national retirement savings scheme that:

• Automatically enrols eligible employees who currently have no pension coverage

• Collects contributions from the employee, employer and State

• Invests these contributions and builds up an individual My Future Fund for each employee

• Is designed as an employment right, with protections built into legislation

Employers cannot block enrolment, discourage participation or pressure employees to opt out.

If contributions are underpaid or withheld, interest will apply.

2. Who will be auto-enrolled?

From the webinar, the key points on eligibility were:

Automatically enrolled if:

• Aged 23–60

• Earning €20,000+ per year (across all employments)

• Not already in a pension scheme (any employer or employee contributions through payroll)

Can still opt in if:

• Under 23 or over 60

• Earning less than €20,000

Excluded for now:

• Self-employed

• Company directors on Class S PRSI

• Family members on Class M PRSI / non-payrolled family workers

We also looked at how AE works when someone has more than one job, and how Revenue and NAERSA use payroll data and a 13-week lookback to determine eligibility across employments.

3. How contributions work

During the webinar our speakers explained that contributions are:

• Mandatory via payroll, similar to PAYE/USC

• Based on gross earnings up to €80,000

• Applied across employments where total income exceeds €20,000

Employee and employer contributions are phased in over 10 years, rising every three years, with the State adding a top-up instead of traditional pension tax relief.

We also explored example costings for:

• An employee earning €20,000

• A full-time worker on national minimum wage

to show how employer costs build over time.

4. Opt-outs and employee choice

The webinar went through the opt-out rules in detail:

• Employees must stay in AE for the first 6 months

• They can opt out in months 7 and 8 after enrolment

• If they opt out in that window, they get a refund of their own contributions

• Employer and State contributions stay in the employee’s pot, so savings are still built up

Employees can also opt out after contribution increases during the first 10 years.

5. The My Future Fund & NAERSA

Our speakers discussed how each employee will have one savings pot – the My Future Fund – that follows them from job to job.

To run AE, a new agency has been created:

NAERSA – National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority

We learned the following:

• NAERSA’s role is to administer the entire scheme in the best interests of employees

• It uses Revenue payroll data to identify eligible workers

• It collects contributions, manages investment, and runs employer and employee portals

• It is also responsible for enforcement and compliance

There is no waiting period – once eligibility criteria are clearly met, enrolment is immediate.

The webinar also covered the upcoming:

• Employer portal – for managing AE data, deductions and compliance (all employers will need to register once it goes live)

• Employee portal – for opt-ins, opt-outs, suspensions and re-enrolment

6. AE vs Occupational pension schemes

During Martin’s section, we compared AE with occupational pensions, especially for long-service employees and higher-rate taxpayers.

Key points from the webinar:

• AE offers no flexibility for employees:

  • Retirement age is fixed at State Pension age (66)

  • Contribution rates cannot be increased to save more or retire early

• Higher-rate taxpayers (40%) generally receive better tax relief through traditional pension arrangements than through AE’s fixed State top-up

• For employees with long-term service, occupational pension lump sums (e.g. 1.5× final salary after 20 years) can be significantly higher than the equivalent AE tax-free lump sum

Martin also explained the concept of the vesting period in occupational pensions (up to 24 months of membership before benefits are “vested”) and what happens if an employee leaves before that period.