Ireland’s pension auto-enrolment programme, My Future Fund, aims to enhance retirement savings for workers.
Scheduled to commence operations in January 2026, the initiative should boost participation, encourage long-term savings and ease pressure on the public pension system.
In Ireland and across the globe, people are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. Improvements in healthcare, public health and living standards healthcare has pushed average life expectancy in Ireland to 82.6 years, according to the Government Health in Ireland Key Trends 2024, with the more than 65 population increasing by 36.5 per cent between 2015 and 2024.
While this increase is very welcome, it does place pressure on State pension programmes, which were designed for entirely different times and demographics.
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In order to address this challenge, governments globally are rethinking their retirement and pension systems. One way that governments are encouraging this is through a system called automatic enrolment, which automatically signs workers up for retirement savings plans where they don’t already have a plan in place.
In 2022 the Government announced its own proposal for an automatic enrolment system, called the My Future Fund. This programme will be for employees in Ireland who earn €20,000 or more and are not already part of an occupational pension plan.
Contributions will start at 1.5 per cent of an employee’s earnings during the first three years, the rate will gradually increase, reaching 6 per cent by the 10th year.
Employers will be required to match employee contributions up to €80,000 annually and the Government will contribute an additional one-third of the employee’s contribution.
“The overall goal of the programme is to make retirement saving easier for employees in Ireland by providing a structured and supportive system that includes contributions from both employers and the Government,” says Rav Vithaldas, EY Ireland partner and pensions assurance leader.
“My Future Fund was initially due to come into operation in September 2025, however, the new start date is January 2026,” he says. “This revised timeline aligns with the start of the tax year and will allow payroll providers and small businesses more time to ensure that everything is in place for the launch.”
Governance of the programme will be the key to success and involves two main organisations: the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (Naersa) and the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Naersa is the government body that will oversee the scheme, ensuring the programme runs smoothly, collecting contributions from employees and investing funds wisely.
Naersa will also check enrolment eligibility and will manage an online portal for both employees and employers to access scheme-related information and services.
TCS is the administrator for the programme and will handle the enrolment of participants, manage their accounts, and facilitate the retirement savings process.
The aim of TCS will be to simplify the process and reduce the administrative burden on employers. Together, Naersa and TCS will ensure that the system operates effectively, providing a reliable and user-friendly means for employees to save for their retirement.
Learning from other schemes
“Ireland’s My Future Fund is not the world’s first auto-enrolment pension system, which has its advantages,” says Vithaldas. “Countries further along their journey have faced a number of unexpected challenges that Ireland has the opportunity to now neatly sidestep, while still tailoring a system to fit our unique economic landscape.”
It can be seen already that the set-up of My Future Fund has learned from the challenges faced in other countries. In the UK, for example, some smaller businesses found it challenging to set up and manage workplace pensions, leading to confusion and noncompliance. Ireland’s new system will centralise administration under Naersa, reducing the burden on employers and simplifying the enrolment process.
In Australia the superannuation system faced criticism for the proliferation of multiple small accounts when workers changed jobs, especially those earlier in their careers.
My Future Fund takes a pot follows member approach, meaning retirement savings are automatically transferred with employees as they switch jobs, minimising the creation of multiple accounts and associated fees.
In Germany the public pension system has been criticised for an overreliance on a complex mix of public and private pensions, a cause for confusion among workers. Unlike Germany the new Irish system aims to provide clearer communications, including public advertising which has already commenced, to ensure clarity for employees around contributions and benefits.
Finally, in Sweden, the struggle has been low participation rates among younger workers in private savings plans. To counter this, My Future Fund will be implementing automatic enrolment to ensure that all eligible employees are included in the savings plan, promoting a culture of saving from the start of their careers.
From design to implementation
The considered design of the auto-enrolment programme will need to be followed by successful implementation.
The successful implementation of Ireland’s pension auto-enrolment programme will rely on three key stakeholder groups: employers, employees and the Government. Each group has specific responsibilities essential for effective implementation of the auto-enrolment system.
For employers, their responsibilities will cover system preparation, adjusting payroll systems to comply with the new contribution requirements, clear communication about the auto-enrolment process and its benefits and finally, support, providing educational resources and workshops to reinforce the importance of retirement savings and guide employees on how to manage the new system.
It is important that employees actively engage with the programme by understanding their rights and responsibilities, including their contributions and investment options. Additionally, it is important that employees understand how contribution increases will affect take-home pay and make use of any available resources from their employers to better understand their retirement options.
The role of Government will include oversight, ensuring the right infrastructure is in place, increasing public awareness through public information campaigns, and engaging in close collaboration with employers and other stakeholders to address challenges and ensure a smooth implementation.
While the design of My Future Fund has clearly been influenced by the successes and challenges with other auto-enrolment schemes globally, there will inevitably be unexpected hurdles that will need to be overcome and which will be unique to Ireland.
For smaller employers, administrative complexity may be a challenge, and they will need clear guidelines and support from Naersa and TCS, along with sufficient training resources to ensure compliance. Positive employee engagement will be key, and Government and employers should prioritise collaborative communications to build awareness and reinforce the benefits of auto-enrolment.
Other challenges to consider will be ensuring that employees are adequately informed and supported in understanding their investment options and how to budget for the phased contribution increases.
Overall, My Future Fund aims to enhance retirement savings for workers. Through an auto-enrolment system, the initiative should boost participation, encourage long-term savings and reduce reliance on public pensions. Success will depend on the active engagement of employers, employees and the Government.
“With My Future Fund, Ireland can create a retirement savings framework that secures a better financial future for all workers, encourages long-term savings and reduce reliance on public pensions,” says Vithaldas. “While inevitably there will be teething problems as with any scheme of such scale and complexity, active engagement of employers, employees and the Government over the coming period offers a really promising opportunity to enhance financial security for generations to come.”
