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Auto-Enrolment (MyFutureFund)

Auto-enrolment is a retirement savings initiative that was introduced on 1 January 2026. It is designed for employees who do not already have an occupational pension scheme or an additional pension arrangement. The pension scheme itself is referred to as "MyFutureFund".

Employees who meet the specified criteria are automatically enrolled in this pension scheme, with the option to opt out in different circumstances.

Click here to see the criteria for auto-enrolment.

To be eligible for auto-enrolment, employees should:

  • Be between the ages of 23 and 60.
  • Earn € 20,000 or more a year across all employments.
  • Not already be contributing to a qualifying pension or a Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) through payroll.

The National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) is the responsible pension authority operating under the Department of Social Protection. NAERSA administers auto-enrolment and the MyFutureFund scheme, with the aim of ensuring that employees are sufficiently prepared for retirement and will not rely on State Pension alone.

As part of auto-enrolment, payroll providers need to cater for the communication of pension contribution information to NAERSA, similar to the way it is done for payroll and ERR submissions to Revenue. SimplePay caters for this compliance requirement for employers as part of our payroll offering.

MyFutureFund and auto-enrolment on SimplePay

For more information about how to make MyFutureFund submissions on SimplePay, please see this article:

What NAERSA Does

NAERSA takes care of the following, which are not the responsibility of the employer or SimplePay:

  • Determining employees' eligibility for enrolment and handling their related queries.
  • Enrolling employees and notifying employers.
  • Managing opt-outs, suspensions, re-enrolments, and contribution disputes.
  • Monitoring for changes in employees' circumstances.

What SimplePay Does

SimplePay automatically retrieves the latest Automatic Enrolment Payroll Notifications (AEPNs) from NAERSA. These AEPNs provide all the necessary auto-enrolment information, such as which employees are required to contribute to the MyFutureFund pension scheme, and their individual contribution rates.

Based on the instructions we receive in the AEPNs, we automatically add the auto-enrolment pension item, called "Pension (Auto-enrolled)", to the payslips of employees who have been auto-enrolled. This payroll item includes employee and employer contributions.

Pension (Auto-enrolled) on an employee’s profile

The Pension (Auto-enrolled) item appears under Regular Inputs on an employee's profile. However, you cannot add it manually, nor can you edit it; for compliance purposes, the system adds it automatically based on the information provided by AEPNs.

Under Payslip Inputs, it is not editable either, but you can click on Pension (Auto-enrolled) to see the relevant information from the AEPN.

It is also not possible to make Additional Voluntary Contributions on the MyFutureFund scheme.

The effects on the payslip of an employee having an "Active" enrolment status and contribution rate greater than zero are the following:

  • Under Deduction, the employee's contribution appears as "Pension (Auto-enrolled) - Employee".
  • Under Employer Contribution, the employer's contribution appears as "Pension (Auto-enrolled) - Employer".

When an AEPN indicates that an employee's enrolment status has changed, the system makes the appropriate changes automatically.

What Employers Should Do

The bulk of the administration of this scheme, including the decision of which employees should be enrolled, falls on NAERSA. SimplePay then takes care of the contribution calculations, based on the AEPNs received from NAERSA.

As an employer, your main responsibility is to ensure that you comply with the law.

Compliance

Any of the following can result in fines and penalties, so it's recommended to not:

  • Prevent your employees from joining the scheme.
  • Force your employees to opt out or suspend their contributions.

Additionally, withheld or underpaid contributions will be flagged by NAERSA as being late, and attract interest accordingly.

The following is a list of your legal responsibilities as employer:

  • Match your employees' contributions, i.e. for every € 1 your employee contributes, you should also contribute € 1. Note the following:
    • Contribution rates for employees and employers will increase periodically over the first ten years.
    • An annual earnings threshold of € 80,000 applies.
    • SimplePay automatically adds these employer contributions to payslips by following NAERSA’s instructions in the AEPNs.
  • Inform employees of their enrolment. A template for this notification will be available in your secure mailbox on the employer portal.

  • Provide contribution information to NAERSA, on or before the pay date of your employees. These contributions must be paid to NAERSA at the same time as the employees are paid.

    MyFutureFund and auto-enrolment on SimplePay

    For more information about how to make MyFutureFund submissions on SimplePay, please see this article:

Tax Relief

Employees

The customary tax relief approach for pension contributions does not apply to MyFutureFund. Instead, the State makes a direct contribution to employees’ retirement savings, € 1 for every € 3 that the employee contributes. (Employer contributions match those of employees.)

Employers

One of the benefits of auto-enrolment is that it is possible to offset employer contributions against corporation tax.

Resources

Please consult the following resources for more information:

You can also see the FAQs below.

How do I contact NAERSA about employee auto-enrolment queries or contribution disputes?

If you have any questions about auto-enrolment, please contact NAERSA via:

  • Webchat on myfuturefund.ie; or
  • Phone on 01 568 9555, Mon - Fri, 9 AM to 6 PM (excluding public and bank holidays).
Can my employee opt out of auto-enrolment if they have a private pension? How?

Yes, if they have a private pension, they should not form part of the auto-enrolment scheme. This is because they have existing pension coverage.

If you add their private pension to payroll, they will not meet the requirements, and they will not be auto-enrolled.

If you added their private pension to payroll and they are still auto-enrolled, or if you added their private pension to payroll only after they were auto-enrolled, you should contact NAERSA (details above).

However, you should note that their auto-enrolment status will be updated only after the payroll submission, including private pension contributions, is received. Therefore, you should query a discrepancy with NAERSA only in the next pay period – if the payroll is still incorrect.

Example – Updating of auto-enrolment status

If you add an employee’s private pension to monthly payroll in January, you should wait to see whether the February payroll is updated by the latest AEPN instruction before reaching out to NAERSA.