ieExplains: What do employers need to know about pension auto-enrolment as registration opens?
Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary with Roma Burke the chair of the Board of the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority and its chief executive Dermot Griffin.
Employer registration for the long-awaited pension auto-enrolment system, My Future Fund, opened today with businesses across the country being asked to register in advance of January 1, 2026 after which the first contributions are expected to be paid.
The Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act was signed into law in July last year and up until now, Ireland was the only country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that didn’t have an auto-enrolment pension system set up.
The system will be administered by the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) who will take on the bulk of the administrative burden for businesses.
With the employer portal for MyFutureFund open, all employers are being asked to do is to register their company details and set up a payment method through the website myfuture.ie.
Businesses are being asked to log into MyFutureFund’s employer portal with their Revenue Online Services (ROS) certificate, agree to the terms and conditions as well as set up a company profile. The system will then ask to set-up a payment method for making contribution payments with a direct debit the preferred option.
Once you’ve completed registration as an employer, you’ll receive a confirmation letter either in your secure mailbox on the employer portal or by post. This letter will include your scheme reference number.
Employers will be required to start making contributions from January 1, so businesses are being asked to ensure that they have completed their registration in advance. Businesses that do not comply, run the risk of fines, penalties and potential prosecution.
NAERSA will handle the registration of individual employees as it will collect payroll data from Revenue and run the eligibility checks. When NAERSA has identified an employee as meeting all of the eligibility criteria, NAERSA will enrol them and send an updated Automatic Enrolment Payroll Notification (AEPN) to their employer’s payroll to notify them of their enrolment.
All the employer will have to do is apply the AEPN when running payroll. If an employee falls outside of the age and earnings threshold but still wants to opt-in, NAERSA will handle this as well.
The administrative burden on the employer will be very low. They will not have to identify eligible employees, they will not have to manage employee opt-ins, opt-outs, or contribution suspensions.
From January 1, employers will have to contribute 1.5% of their employee’s pay to MyFutureFund. The employee will match this contribution with the State adding in 0.5%. This means for every €3 an employee pays into the scheme, the employer will add €3 and the State will add €1.
These rates are set to increase gradually over the coming decade. In year four of the scheme, the employer and employee contribution rates will increase to 3%, in year seven, it will increase to 4.5%, and from year 10 it will be set at 6%. State contributions will also increase hitting 2% by year 10.
Employers can set their payment method through the MyFutureFund employer portal. Employers can choose to set up a direct debit or opt to pay via a credit or debit facility but this could entail the employer logging in every month to pay the contributions. For this reason, NAERSA is encouraging employers to use the direct debit function.
MyFutureFund is based on the employee eligibility criteria and not the number of employees on payroll. Companies with a small number of employees won’t be exempt.
Contract type isn’t taken into account when considering eligibility. Criteria for people to be included in MyFutureFund include that they are aged between 23 and 60, earn over €20,000 a year and are not already in a pension scheme.
The introduction of MyFutureFund means that businesses will not have to incur the expense of setting up their own pension scheme or having to administer one. Contributions to MyFutureFund will also be deductible for corporation tax purposes.
The employee portal will open on January 1 which is when employers will be expected to start making contributions to the MyFutureFund.
Employers will also be obliged to inform their employees when they are first enrolled.
Auto-enrolment is an employment right and businesses are required to participate if they do not already offer a pension scheme as a condition of employment. Businesses are to ensure that enrolled employees are not penalised for their participation in the scheme and contributions are paid.
Employers who prevent their employees from participating in the scheme or force them to opt-out or suspend their contributions can be prosecuted under the law and will be subject to fines and penalties. Withheld or underpaid contributions will attract interest payments.
NAERSA will also publish a list of employers who have been convicted of non-compliance.
The Workplace Relations Commission will be responsible for dealing with cases where employees are hindered from joining MyFuture Fund and/or are penalised for doing so.
Auto-enrolment is just another pension option and is not intended to replace any existing employment pension schemes. So if a business operates a pension scheme as a condition of employment, then staff enrolled in this won’t be affected.
The legislation underpinning auto-enrolment does not require employees to join an existing employment pension scheme. Employees can consider MyFutureFund as an alternative to workplace pension schemes.
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