The Irish Pensions Authority has announced the introduction of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) reporting for pension schemes, beginning with a phased rollout that will apply first to master trusts and the largest schemes.

This announcement follows the initial signalling of this introduction at the authority’s conference last September.

The authority has advised trustees and their administrators to begin preparing for future XBRL-based reporting requirements, including assessing their operational readiness.

Under the new framework, pension schemes will be required to submit structured data in XBRL format, aligned with European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) requirements, with EIOPA’s templates and instructions forming the basis of the reporting framework.

However, the authority acknowledged that implementation will require system development, data mapping and further clarification.

Given this, the authority confirmed that additional guidance and engagement with the sector will be provided ahead of formal reporting requirements.

The phased rollout will begin with an initial stage in which the authority will engage with all master trusts and the largest 25 defined contribution and defined benefit schemes by assets.

These schemes will be required to start reporting in the third quarter of 2026.
 
This will be followed by a full sector-wide rollout planned for the fourth quarter of 2026, with schemes to be contacted directly by the authority regarding when they will need to begin providing data.

The authority said trustees and administrators will need to ensure their administration systems can produce timely and accurate data in the required formats.

It added that trustees will remain ultimately responsible for the accuracy of data submitted on the scheme's behalf.

It also encouraged trustees to engage with administrators and system providers now to assess their system capability for XBRL reporting and begin planning for data extraction and mapping requirements.

The authority said “forward-looking, risk-based supervision” depends on “extensive, accurate and timely data” from pension schemes.

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