The State’s new auto-enrolment pension scheme, MyFutureFund, came into effect on the 1st January 2026. The key qualifying criteria for access to MyFutureFund have been in the public domain for the last number of months, namely that participants:

  1. Must be between the ages of 23 and 60;
  2. Earn €20,000 or more per year across all employments (or more than €5,000 over a 13 week period); and
  3. Do not already pay into a pension through payroll;

However, arising from concerns conveyed by the Government that a small number of employers had planned on requiring employees to sign up to in-house pension schemes which would result in employees receiving lower contributions than those offered under MyFutureFund, the Government announced their intention to introduce a minimum standard of contribution rates to such pension schemes.

Following this announcement the Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary TD, issued a press release on the 24th December 2025 confirming that he had signed a last-minute regulation into law introducing these minimum standards.

Standards for Exemption from Enrolment in MyFutureFund

The Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Regulations (Amendment) (Section 52) Regulations 2025 (the “Regulations”) set out the minimum standards that will apply to defined pension contribution schemes and personal retirement savings accounts where an employer seeks to rely on their employees being exempt from auto-enrolment in MyFutureFund by virtue of them receiving a contribution into such pension schemes through payroll.

The standards specify that the total contributions made into such pension schemes must amount to at least 3.5% of an employee’s annual gross pay. The Regulations set out that:

  • An employer will be required to contribute a minimum of 1.5% of an employee’s gross pay into their pension scheme or an amount not in excess of €1,200 per annum, whichever is the lesser figure.
  • An employee will be required to contribute an amount that when aggregated with the amount contributed by the employer does not represent less than 3.5% of the employee’s gross pay or €2,800 in any year, whichever is the lesser figure.

It is possible for the employer to contribute the entire 3.5% (or €2,800) alone and in such a scenario a contribution from the employee to the relevant scheme would not be required. It should be noted that the 3.5% and €2,800 figure do not represent an absolute cap on contributions and both employer and employee are entitled to contribute in excess of this amount to any such pension scheme.

Will these Minimum Standards Increase?

While the Minister did not explicitly confirm that the minimum standards would increase in the coming years, he did note the proposed increases to the contribution amounts to MyFutureFund which are set to take effect over the next 10 years and so employers should be aware that such increases to the minimum standards are likely in the coming years.

How will the minimum standards be observed?

Minister Calleary stated that rather than immediately imposing penalties on employers whose employees are entered into pension schemes with lesser contributions than MyFutureFund, the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (“NAERSA”) will assess contribution levels over a three-month period and identify employers whose schemes result in a contribution rate lower than the minimum standards now set out in the Regulations. Such employers will be contacted with a view to assisting them in becoming compliant.

The Minister noted that where an employer fails to ensure compliance with the minimum standards following requests to do so by NAERSA, NAERSA could then issue a compliance notice or fixed payment notice, which under the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 (the “2024 Act”) is up to €5,000. These are additional powers which are separate to the potential criminal sanctions contained in the 2024 Act.

Advice to Employers

In the first instance, employers should ensure that they have registered for the MyFutureFund portal and selected the method by which employer contributions will be deducted and allocated to employees’ MyFutureFund accounts, where relevant. Where registration has not been completed and the method of deduction has not been selected employers could be found guilty of having committed an offence.

Where employees are currently making and receiving pension contributions into a pension scheme via payroll, employers should ensure that such contributions meet the minimum standards as referred to above. Where this is not the case, employers should, in consultation with impacted employees, increase contributions to meet the minimum standards, otherwise the exemptions to auto-enrollment will no longer apply and the employer could then face being issued with a compliance notice, fixed payment notice and/or potentially being deemed as having breached the 2024 Act.

For more information or assistance with queries relating to auto-enrolment, please contact Caoimhe Heery, Claire McDermott or any member of the Flynn O’Driscoll Employment Team.

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