Indian firm signs contract to administer pension auto-enrolment scheme

Tata Consultancy Services will oversee the administration of the scheme, enabling enrolment, record management, and benefit disbursement

Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphries with TCS country head of Ireland, Deepak Chaudhari.

Indian multinational IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed a 15-year contract with the Department of Social Protection to implement the new auto-enrolment retirement savings scheme.

As per the arrangement, TCS will oversee the administration of the scheme, enabling enrolment, record management, and benefit disbursement. The services will be delivered through TCS Global Delivery Centre in Letterkenny in Donegal.

TCS’s facility in Donegal employs around 1,200 people and is one of the largest employers in the northwest of Ireland. The company established operations in Ireland and the UK nearly 50 years ago.

The “My Future Fund” pension scheme is expected to benefit up to 800,000 workers helping them save for retirement.

Speaking on the signing of the deal, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said officials in her department will be working with TCS, the Revenue Commissioners and payroll software developers to “make sure that My Future Fund is delivered on time and to the highest standard.” 

TCS has previously worked on similar schemes in the UK having managed the National Employment Savings Trust since the UK government launched a digital auto-enrolment scheme in 2011.

President of banking and financial services at TCS, Vivekanand Ramgopal, said the company “has expertise and experience in delivering critical transformation projects in the UK and Ireland”.

“We will leverage this experience and our knowledge of the market to make the pension system more accessible, transparent and efficient for workers in Ireland,” he said.

Country head of TCS Ireland, Deepak Chaudhari, said this partnership is a “fantastic opportunity” for the company to “contribute to a project of national importance that will have a lasting impact”.

The scheme is aimed at certain employees who are not paying into a pension. Employees will be automatically included in the scheme but can opt out after six months. Under the scheme, the employee, employer, and the Government will pay a certain amount into the employee’s pension fund.

The scheme is due to come into effect from September 30 next year.