Pension auto-enrolment in Ireland: My Future Fund explained for employees

Auto-enrolment is the biggest change to Irish pay packets in a generation, and it arrived on payslips in January 2026. If you are between 23 and 60, earn €20,000 or more and were not already in a workplace pension, a new deduction has appeared and your employer and the State are paying in alongside you. This guide explains who is in, what the contributions are, what the opt-out window is, how the scheme sits with an existing pension, and where the WRC and the Pensions Authority fit. It does not tell you whether to opt out; that is a decision for you and, if you want advice, a regulated adviser.

What auto-enrolment is

The Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 set up a State-run retirement savings scheme, called My Future Fund, and started it on 1 January 2026. The idea is simple: rather than waiting for people to join a pension, the system enrols them and lets them leave if they choose. Contributions go into an account in your name, invested by the scheme's fund managers, and the account follows you from job to job. It is not your employer's pension scheme; it is administered by the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority, and the Pensions Authority is the regulator.

Who is enrolled

You are enrolled automatically if, at the point your employer runs payroll, you:

• are aged 23 to 60;
• earn €20,000 or more a year across all your employments; and
• are not already contributing to a qualifying occupational pension scheme through payroll.

The earnings test looks at all your jobs together, so two part-time jobs paying €12,000 each put you over the line. The Authority works this out from Revenue's payroll data, which is also how it knows whether you already have a workplace pension. If you are under 23, over 60 or below €20,000 you are not enrolled automatically; the Act lets people outside those bands opt in, and the Department's My Future Fund pages give the conditions.

There is no minimum service. Eligibility is assessed from the start of a job, and new employees who meet the tests are enrolled from their first pay.

The contributions

Contributions are a percentage of your gross pay, up to earnings of €80,000. The rates step up every three years:

The State top-up is €1 for every €3 you contribute, which is where the 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2% figures come from. The steps are tied to the scheme's years, not to your own: someone enrolled in 2029 starts at the year 4 rates.

A worked example on a salary of €30,000 in 2026:

Your contribution does not get income tax relief, because the State top-up takes the place of tax relief. For a standard-rate taxpayer the top-up is worth slightly more than relief would have been; for a higher-rate taxpayer it is worth less. That difference is one of the reasons the question of staying in an existing scheme is best taken to a regulated adviser.

What your payslip shows

From January 2026 your payslip should carry a separate line for your auto-enrolment contribution, usually labelled "AE" or "My Future Fund", and the employer's contribution should appear in the employer section or on a separate statement. Because the deduction is required by the Act, it is a lawful deduction under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 and does not need your written consent; the Act supplies the authority. The payslips guide explains the other lines.

Your written statement of terms under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 must cover "pension and pension scheme terms" within 1 month of starting. If you started in 2026 and the statement says nothing about the pension position, that is a gap worth raising; the contract checker lists what the statement must contain.

Opting out

You cannot opt out straight away. The Act requires six months of contributions first, then opens a two-month window: months 7 and 8 after enrolment. If you opt out in that window:

• your own contributions are refunded to you through payroll;
• the employer's contributions and the State top-up stay in the scheme (they are not refunded to the employer; they remain in your account for retirement);
• you are re-enrolled automatically after two years, if you are still eligible, with a fresh window to opt out again.

There are also opt-out windows after each step-up in the contribution rate, so that nobody is locked into a rate they did not sign up for. Outside those windows, the Act allows contributions to be suspended for a period rather than ended; the Department's My Future Fund pages explain the suspension option.

Opting out is a personal decision, and this site does not advise on it. The things a regulated adviser would weigh are the employer contribution you forgo, the State top-up, your age, your other savings and whether you expect to be a higher-rate taxpayer. Your employer is not allowed to encourage you to opt out, and a reduction in pay, hours or prospects because you stayed in may be penalisation under the Act.

If you already have a pension

The scheme is designed to sit beside existing arrangements, not replace them:

• In a qualifying occupational scheme through payroll: you are not enrolled. If the employer scheme ends, or you stop contributing, you may be enrolled at the next payroll run.
• A PRSA or personal pension you pay yourself: it does not count, because the Authority only sees payroll contributions. You may find yourself enrolled as well. Whether to keep both, or to ask the employer to put the PRSA through payroll, is an adviser question.
• A new job with an employer scheme: joining the employer scheme through payroll takes you out of auto-enrolment for that job, but your My Future Fund account stays open with what is in it.

Some employers have responded to auto-enrolment by opening their own schemes, which may offer higher employer contributions. If yours has, compare the employer rate and the charges before deciding; the auto-enrolment employer rate is 1.5% in 2026 and employer schemes often pay more.

When you leave a job

Your account is yours. When you change employer, the new employer's payroll picks you up and contributions continue into the same account; there is no transfer to arrange. If your new job is below the earnings threshold or you are outside the age band, contributions stop but the account remains invested. Holiday pay and other items in your final pay are pensionable in the same way as wages, and the holiday pay on leaving guide sets out what that final pay should contain.

Retirement and the State pension

Benefits from My Future Fund become available at the State pension age, which is 66, and are separate from the State contributory pension. The working past retirement age guide covers contractual retirement ages and the right, since 29 June 2026, to notify an employer that you wish to work to 66.

If your employer is not enrolling you or paying in

The duties on an employer are to enrol eligible staff, deduct your contribution, pay its own, and pass both to the Authority on time. An employer that does none of this, or that deducts your contribution and does not remit it, is in breach of the Act. The Authority is the body that enforces employer compliance and can pursue unpaid contributions; the Pensions Authority regulates the scheme. Where the issue is a deduction that was taken but not paid over, that is also a wages question, and the WRC deals with Payment of Wages Act complaints within 6 months. Penalisation for being enrolled, for not opting out, or for raising a concern is a complaint in its own right under the Act, and the WRC deadline checker gives the date.

Where this leaves you

If you are 23 to 60, earn €20,000 or more and were not in a workplace pension, you are in My Future Fund since January 2026 at 1.5% from you, 1.5% from your employer and €1 from the State for every €3 you put in, rising to 6% each over the coming years. You can leave in months 7 and 8, with your own money back and re-enrolment after two years, and your employer cannot push you either way. Use the contract checker to confirm your written terms cover the pension position, and take the question of whether to stay in to a regulated adviser rather than to anyone with something to sell.