Auto-Enrolment (AE) is scheduled to commence on 1 January 2026. A summary of how AE will operate is outlined as follows.

NAERSA

The National Auto-Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) will be responsible for administering the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be called MyFutureFund. NAERSA will:

• Organise the collection of the employee and employer contributions and the State top-up
• Pool and distribute contributions to commercial investment managers
• Operate an online portal where employees can access and update account information, access pension benefit statements, opt-in to AE, apply for payment suspension, exercise an opt-out, re-enrol, etc.
• Facilitate a single pension pot for an employee by operating a ‘pot-follows-member’ system whereby employees will benefit from owning one single AE pension pot across all employments and throughout their working lives.
• Collect and distribute financial investment returns to retired employees

Eligibility

An employee who:

• Is aged at least 23 and under 60 years,
• Is not employed in an exempt employment (an exempt employment is one where either the employee or the employer makes a contribution to a qualifying occupational pension, PRSA, PEPP, RAC, AVCs and ASC in respect of that employment which is reported to Revenue in a Payroll Submission), and
• Whose gross pay from all employments (including exempt employments) is €20,000 or more per year, will be an eligible employee in respect of that employment and will be automatically enrolled.

Only income insurable under PRSI Classes A, B, C, D, H and J will be assessed for eligibility. Income insurable under PRSI Classes S, M, K and PRSI Exempt income will not be assessed for eligibility purposes.

NAERSA will be responsible for determining eligibility. Eligibility testing will be carried out on a rolling 13 week look back period. Where the employee’s income from all employments exceeds €5,000 in the 13-week period, the employee will be auto-enrolled in respect of all eligible employments held by the employee, assuming the eligibility conditions outlined above are met. NAERSA will then issue an AEPN (Auto-Enrolment Payment Notification) to the employer.

Employees aged 18 to 65 inclusive, will have the right to opt in to My Future Fund in respect of any non-exempt employment where they are not automatically enrolled.

Employer Responsibility

Employers will have an obligation to:

• Retrieve the latest AEPN from NAERSA when processing payroll.
• Inform employees that they have been enrolled in AE to include the date of enrolment as advised by NAERSA to the employer.
• Deduct employee contributions from the employee’s net pay through payroll and return both employee and employer contributions to NAERSA each pay period before 6.30pm on pay day, in an AE Contribution file.

Employers are advised to register on the employer portal – we understand the URL will be?www.myfuturefund.ie?(however it is not currently active at time of going to print) and set up a payment method (Direct Debit or Debit/Credit Card). It is understood the Portal will become available to employers at the beginning of December.

Gross Pay and AE Contributions

AE contributions will be calculated as a % of the employee’s gross pay, subject to a maximum earnings limit of €80,000, as follows:

Gross pay refers to the amount submitted to Revenue in a Payroll Submission and includes salary, arrears, wages, bonus, commission, fees, overtime, premiums, taxable allowances, holiday pay, public holiday pay, sick pay, maternity pay, paternity pay, etc. and the notional value of a taxable benefit-in-kind (BIK).

Opt-Out and Suspension

Eligible employees will be automatically enrolled for a minimum period of 6 months, at which point they will have a 2-month window (months 7 and 8) during which they can opt-out of AE. Where an employee opts out, they will receive a refund of their own employee contributions. All employer and State contributions are non-refundable and will remain in the employee’s pension pot.

An employee will be entitled to suspend their AE contributions for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 2 years, at any time after 6 months have elapsed following their enrolment or after any previous period of suspension. Where an employee requests a suspension of contributions, the employer and State contributions will also be suspended. A suspension does not generate a refund of contributions.