Pensions auto-enrolment: Very welcome scheme still has hurdles to leap

Law firm Wiiliam Fry suggests that employers could face a challenge matching their existing pensions schemes with those under auto-enrolment, as Kyran Fitzgerald reports

Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys announcing the details of the the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System for Ireland, which will operate on an ‘opt-out’ rather than an ‘opt-in’ basis. People who choose to remain in the system will have their pension savings matched on a one-for-one basis by the employer.  The State will also provide a top-up of €1 for every €3 saved by the worker.  

The Government is pressing ahead with plans to introduce the long-awaited system of auto-enrolment under which most employees are signed up by default to a pension scheme arrangement. 

The advantages of the proposed reform are widely acknowledged. People must be encouraged to put aside a decent sum of money for their retirement, not least because demographic changes are placing traditional pay-as-you-go state pension systems under growing pressure.