Minister Dara Calleary gives update on MyFutureFund

• High levels of Employer Registrations for MyFutureFund recorded since launch
• MyFutureFund provides highly competitive costs for participants
• Employee Portal opens New Year’s Day
• New pension contribution standards introduced for exemption from MyFutureFund

Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary, today announced that over 77,000 employers, with approximately 645,000 employees have registered on the MyFutureFund employer portal since the 1st December.

From 1st January, employees enrolled in MyFutureFund will benefit from being part of a high-quality retirement saving system. Under MyFutureFund, every €3 saved by the employee will convert into €7 when their employer and State contributions are added. These funds will then be invested on their behalf into well-regulated investment funds generating further returns and building up a retirement savings pot that will be available to the employee on their retirement.

Low Costs of MyFutureFund

Given the scale of MyFutureFund, employees will benefit from very low administrative and investment management fees.

The administration fee is set at just 55 cent per week as opposed to a percentage of contributions which increase as savings build, and the fee will only apply to active contributions.

This means that employees who have opted out or suspended participation for a period of time will not suffer erosion of their retirement savings through the application of administration fees.

Separately, the investment management fees will average just under 0.04% of assets under management. Over the typical life of a retirement saving plan for an average-income employee, the combined administration and investment management fees are less than the 0.5% target set by the Government and are less than the rate of 1% of assets and 3 – 5% of contributions which is the norm for many personal retirement saving schemes.

Flexibility of MyFutureFund

MyFutureFund also allows the employee the flexibility to opt-out, and to suspend their savings for a period of time. The ‘pot follows the member’ approach means they carry their retirement savings from job to job with no minimum waiting or vesting periods. This means when they reach retirement age, they will have just one consolidated pot of retirement savings rather than a multitude of different retirement plans accumulated through different employments, with no job changing gaps in their retirement savings.

Noting the progress made since the portal opened, Minister Dara Calleary said –

“The response to the launch of the MyFutureFund employer portal has been fantastic. Already, 77,000 employers with 645,000 staff have registered and contributions will start for these employees from pay-dates starting on the 1st January. This will give these employees, and the many others who we expect to see registered between now and January, access to a high-quality occupational retirement scheme, at low cost with the added flexibility to opt-out, suspend their savings for a period of time and to carry their retirement savings with them from job to job.”

Employees Accessing MyFutureFund

The next stage in the rollout of MyFutureFund will be the opening of the employee portal on 1st January. From mid-January, employees will be able to view their contributions and those of their employer and the State in their MyFutureFund account, when collected and processed by the National Auto-Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA). Employees will also be able to select their preferred investment plan, monitor investment returns and exercise options to opt-out or suspend savings.

Standards for Exemption from Enrolment in MyFutureFund

To coincide with the opening of the employee portal, Minister Calleary has signed a statutory instrument today to give effect to exemption standards determined by NAERSA.

These standards, were developed following consultation with the Pensions Authority, set out the minimum contribution requirements that occupational pensions schemes must satisfy if participation in these schemes is to be used as the basis for claiming exemption from enrolment into MyFutureFund.

The standards ensure that pension arrangements outside of MyFutureFund are at least as favourable for the participating employee as they would be under the introductory contribution rates in MyFutureFund.

In the case of a defined contribution occupational pension scheme, the standards specify the total contributions amount to at least 3.5% of the employee’s gross pay, subject to a maximum of €1,200, of which at least 1.5% must be made by the employer to exempt an employment from enrolment in MyFutureFund.

For defined benefit schemes, the standards specify that those that confer a long-term benefit based on continuing employment, will allow such employments to be exempted.

In signing the regulation, the Minister said

“The MyFutureFund scheme is intended to provide coverage to employees who are not already members of an employer sponsored occupational scheme – as is the case for many employees.

We don’t want to cut-across any well established, well designed and well operating schemes. However, it is also important that such occupational schemes, if they are to be exempted, serve their purpose in allowing participants to accumulate sufficient retirement savings to fund a decent pension in retirement. That is why it is necessary to set exemption standards.

To begin with, these standards are being set at a modest amount reflecting the phased introduction over a 10-year period of MyFutureFund, and the vast majority, if not all, pre-existing pension schemes will easily satisfy these standards.”

NAERSA’s focus will be on ensuring that any schemes claiming exemption from MyFutureFund comply with these standards, rather than on imposing penalties. This will involve assessing contribution levels over a three-month period which is also the basis for determining eligibility for MyFutureFund. This assessment period is necessary so that the average level of contribution can be accurately calculated taking account of seasonal impacts, overtime, and commission payments.

Employers of any schemes where the contribution amount, over this period, is less than the specified 3.5%, will be contacted with a view to assisting them to become compliant. However, if an employer scheme continues to fall below the standard with no evidence of the employer making appropriate efforts either to reach the exemption standard or to allow their staff to enrol in MyFutureFund, then the compliance powers available to NAERSA under Part 9 of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 will be enforced.

The Minister explained,

“I don’t expect this situation to arise to any great extent. As the registration levels to date show, the overwhelming majority of employers are supportive of and welcome the introduction of MyFutureFund.

They are well-aware of the experience of other countries such as Australia and the UK where the availability of a state-owned auto-enrolment option has been seen as a huge positive. For example it is not unusual for employers in those countries to promote the availability of the auto-enrolment option as a selling-point in recruitment campaigns.

We have, however, learned that a very small number of employers have sought to enrol some employees, who were not previously participating in those occupational schemes, into these schemes with just a notional contribution. Even though this is a very small number it is not a practice that can be ignored as it, in effect, denies the employees concerned access to an effective retirement savings plan. The enactment of these regulations will reassure workers that they will, either through their company’s own occupational scheme or through MyFutureFund, have the ability to participate in a decent retirement savings scheme.”

Overview

MyFutureFund, the auto-enrolment retirement savings system, is a landmark initiative aimed at helping an estimated 750,000 workers in Ireland who do not currently have access to a work or personal pension, being paid through payroll, to begin saving for their future. MyFutureFund has a legislative basis under the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024.

From 1 January 2026, employees in Ireland who meet the eligibility criteria will have access to a quality-assured retirement savings scheme.

Administration

MyFutureFund has been designed with simplicity in mind. The bulk of the administration will be handled centrally by a new body that has been set up called the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA). NAERSA will act as the administrator of MyFutureFund and will take care of:

• identifying and enrolling eligible employees
• handling opt-in, opt-out and suspension requests
• collecting and investing contributions
• enforcing compliance with the legislation.

NAERSA will facilitate employer and participant online portals as well as providing a customer contact centre to assist with queries.

Employer advantages

MyFutureFund has a number of advantages for employers. First and foremost, MyFutureFund is designed to keep pension administration for employers to a minimum as NAERSA will handle the vast majority of this. This makes MyFutureFund a more straightforward option for employers compared to procuring and administering an occupational scheme.

• Contribution rates are being phased in gradually over the first decade of the scheme to allow for employers to budget.
• NAERSA will not charge employers for this administration. Instead, NAERSA will be funded through a participant fee.
• MyFutureFund will make it easy for employers to ensure that their employees have better financial provision for their retirement, potentially improving their own attractiveness as an employer of choice and improving retention rates of valued workers in a tight labour market.

Employee advantages

MyFutureFund will provide access to a quality assured retirement savings scheme to around 750,000 employees who otherwise would not have pension coverage outside of the State Pension. Enrolment for eligible staff is handled automatically, meaning that employees don’t need to do anything to begin saving for their retirement.

• MyFutureFund guarantees employer matching contributions as well as a top-up paid at a rate of €1 for every €3 contributed by the employee.
• Fees and charges for the scheme are very low and are clear and transparent
• Because all participants are placed into a default investment strategy that operates on a life cycle basis e.g., decreasing investment risk the closer a participant gets to retirement, there is no need to make difficult financial decisions to get a good retirement savings pot.
• All savings will be the personal property of the participant. There is no vesting period, meaning that as soon as the contributions are received by NAERSA they belong to the participant.

There may be a period of time between employees seeing contributions being deducted through their payslip and appearing on their dashboard in the MyFutureFund participant portal. This is to allow the contribution payments to be collected, processed, pooled and allocated appropriately to the investment managers. If an employee has still not seen the contributions appear in their MyFutureFund participant portal after 10 business days from their pay day, they are advised to contact NAERSA.

Contributions

Contributions will begin to be collected from 1 January. NAERSA will collect the employer and employee contributions from the employer and the State top-up separately. Contributions are calculated on gross pay as reported to Revenue and taken from net pay after deductions.

The contribution rates are set out in the table below.

Employee Employer State

2026-28 1.5% 1.5% 0.5%

2029-31 3% 3% 1%

2032-34 4.5% 4.5% 1.5%

2035+ 6% 6% 2%

Contacts and Further Information

Further information on MyFutureFund is available at myfuturefund.ie.ie or www.gov.ie/ae

The MyFutureFund contact centre for employers and employees can be reached on 01 568 9555.

Alternatively, NAERSA can be written to at MyFutureFund, TCS Drive, Letterkenny Technology Park, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, F92 W8CY.