Government confirms auto enrolment pensions delay until 2026

On 29 April Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary TD, confirmed that the collection of contributions for the Automatic Enrolment retirement savings system called My Future Fund will begin from 1st January 2026. It had previously been planned to begin contributions from 30th September 2025.

The Minister set out a number of factors for his decision including:

• Alignment of the new system with the standard tax year;
• Additional time for payroll providers, especially smaller providers, to ready their systems for the launch; and
• Additional lead-in time for employers, particularly small and micro businesses, to ensure they can be compliant with the legislation from the start;

Minister Calleary, when announcing the change in commencement date, said that he believed that My Future Fund will transform how people save for their retirement. Describing it as a landmark policy, he said that all care must be taken to ensure that it is done in a way that best facilitates all stakeholders and recognises where legitimate concerns have been raised.

He added that this decision also means that payroll providers will be able to incorporate any software updates within their normal annual work schedule. This includes incorporating any changes that may arise from Budget 2026 this autumn. Employers will thereby have to update their payroll systems just once, reducing the amount of administrative work they will have to do. This aligns with a central tenet of My Future Fund, which is that the administrative burden of this new system should be kept to a minimum for employers.

Implications for employers

• Collection of contributions and enrolment into My Future Fund will now begin from 1 January 2026 rather than from 30 September 2025. This means that no contributions will be sought or collected until the first time an employer runs payroll after this date. As a result, it gives employers and their payroll providers an additional three months to get ready for the system.
• This will not impact the work on determining eligibility which will be ongoing before this date. By doing this, it means 1st January 2026 could see the first participants in My Future Fund enrolled from that day. Employers should budget for this eventuality and ensure that they are in a position to begin paying contributions as soon as they receive notice from the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA).

Work to continue apace on the development of underlying systems

• Work is continuing on the development, integration and testing of the underlying systems that will be used to administer My Future Fund.
• The Department will continue its engagement with the Payroll Software Developers Association (PSDA) to ensure that payroll software developers are fully aware of the technical specifications required for them to accommodate My Future Fund on their platforms.
• Appointment of the investment managers through the ongoing tender process will continue without delay.
• Work will continue to recruit both staff and Board members for NAERSA, with positions due to be advertised in May.
• The three-phase communications strategy will continue to be rolled out in line with major developments. More communications resources are available on the Department website here including informational videos on Auto-enrolment explained - YouTube.

Access the full government press release here

Access Ibec’s My Future Fund, the Auto-Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme – Information & Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by Ibec Members here.