Watch Out…Auto-enrolments About!

The introduction of the Auto-enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme, called My Future Fund, will start from 1 January 2026. Under the new scheme, employees who are currently not paying into a pension will automatically be included in the scheme but can opt out after 6 months.

This initiative will see the employee, employer, and Government all pay a certain amount into the employee’s pension fund and a new public body - the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) will be set up to administer the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be supervised by the Pensions Authority.

Under the new auto-enrolment rules, everyone with a non-active pension will be automatically swept up in Auto-Enrolment (AE). There are only two main exceptions:

1. Employees over the age of 60 are not included for AE

2. Employees earning less than €20k

Employers won’t be able to control who is included in AE, this will be determined by NAERSA. The NAERSA system will pull payroll records directly and include anyone who doesn’t have an active monthly payroll deduction. So if a director has a self-administered scheme containing a transfer value but not committed to regular annual contributions, where does that leave them re auto-enrolment?

Even if someone is a salaried employee and already has a private pension such as one that received a transfer value, they will still be automatically enrolled unless they’re currently making regular payroll contributions to that pension. AE eligibility is determined solely by payroll monthly deductions.

This presents a good opportunity to consider your options with your financial advisor. If you would like to avoid being automatically enrolled by NAERSA in January 2026, now is the time to act! For those with PRSA schemes, you can start payroll deductions into your current arrangements now, and prevent running two pension schemes simultaneously with different rules, flexibility and support.

For further information speak to your financial advisor today and get AE ready!

John McGovern - ITC Business Development Manager