Government ‘should spend €800m to encourage take-up of private pensions’

THE Government should spend up to €800 million next year to encourage lower-paid workers to take out a private pension, employers’ group IBEC said yesterday.

It said current tax breaks to boost pension take-up were too heavily geared towards those on higher incomes and called for new incentives in this year’s Budget.

These would come through a scheme based on the Special Savings Incentive Account (SSIA) model, but would extend the tax relief currently available to top-rate taxpayers to everyone in the workforce by offering a Government top-up of €2 for every €5 put towards a pension plan.