More than 24,400 employers, with an estimated 315,000 workers between them, have signed up for the new My Future Fund pensions autoenrolment scheme, the Cabinet has been told.
Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary briefed colleagues on the scheme, which is due to begin on January 1st.
Mr Calleary outlined how there will be a 55c per week fee for employees that participate in the scheme. This fee will be in place to fund the agency overseeing My Future Fund, the National Automatic Enrolment and Savings Authority, and it is due to rise in line with the Consumer Price Index every five years.
The portal for employers to register opened on December 1st, with some 24,400 signing up so far.
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The estimated 315,000 workers is more than 40 per cent of the 770,000 workers without private pension arrangements that the Government hopes the scheme will cover.
Under My Future Fund, all employees not already in an occupational pension scheme, aged 23-60 and earning more than €20,000 a year, will be automatically enrolled.
It will be phased in over a decade, with employer and employee contributions each starting at 1.5 per cent and increasing every three years by 1.5 per cent until they reach 6 per cent by year 10.
The State will top up contributions by €1 for every €3 saved by the employee. That State top-up is designed to compensate for the lack of tax relief on employee contributions.
Membership will be compulsory for the first six months, after which employees can choose to opt out.
Those who opt out will be automatically re-enrolled after two years. That process will repeat every two years in the hope that employees will eventually choose to remain in membership.
