The Department for Social Protection (DSP) in Ireland has hinted that the government’s long-awaited auto-enrolment (AE) scheme could be delayed further, as Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary, is “considering” the start date for the scheme.

“The Minister is considering when the collection of contributions and their investment will start and will bring his view to government colleagues in the coming weeks,” a DSP spokesperson told European Pensions.

The response comes amid reports that Minister for Public Expenditure, Jack Chambers, has said the start date for the scheme would be delayed again. AE was set to commence on 30 September 2025, but it is now widely thought that the scheme will launch in 2026.

A potential delay is unlikely to come as a shock to those in the industry, who have already witnessed multiple delays since the scheme was first proposed. Last November, the then Irish Association of Pension Funds CEO, Jerry Moriarty, said he would “not be surprised” if the launch date moved to early 2026.

"Until very recently, it was due to start early in 2025,” he said during a European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) webinar in November 2024. “I think 30 September is certainly more realistic, but I wouldn't be surprised if that moved to the beginning of 2026, just considering what still needs to be done."

Despite a potential delay, the DSP said the implementation of AE, which will be known as My Future Fund, is “proceeding”. It added that work is “continuing apace” on developing and implementing the scheme’s administration system and processes and in sourcing the investment management providers for the scheme.

It also said work was underway to develop the technical solutions with the Revenue Commissioners and payroll providers to facilitate the automatic enrolment of participants, and in establishing the organisational structures and staffing of the National Automatic Employment Retirement Savings Scheme (NAERSA), to run the scheme.

In March, the department published the tender for the procurement of investment management services for AE, having already secured Tata Consultancy Services to run NAERSA.

According to the documents on the government’s eTender’s website, the DSP is seeking to procure three investment managers to each provide three risk-rated UCITS funds; these are lower risk, medium risk and higher risk. The UCITS fund must be a comprehensive and fully managed solution.

The DSP estimates that the total amount in retirement savings in the AE system (excluding investment returns) may amount to around €21bn in assets under management within 10 years.

Around 800,000 workers are expected to be enrolled into the My Future Fund pension scheme. Under the scheme, people aged between 23 and 60 who do not have a pension scheme and are earning more than €20,000 a year will be auto-enrolled into the new system.

For every €3 a worker puts into their auto-enrolment pension scheme, their employer will also contribute €3, and the state will top it up by €1. Contribution rates will increase gradually as the scheme progresses, with employees contributing 1.5 per cent of their gross salary during the first three years of enrolment.

This will rise to 3 per cent from the fourth year to 4.5 per cent from the seventh year, before reaching the top employee contribution rate of 6 per cent in the 10th year. Employer and state contributions rise in line with this, resulting in total contributions of 14 per cent of an employee’s gross salary from the 10th year onwards.

Furthermore, the DSP said that a “three-phase communications strategy is underway”, while “considerable levels” of stakeholder engagement have already taken place as part of phase one of the strategy.

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