As of 1 July 2026, hundreds of thousands of Irish employees can now opt out of the ‘My Future Fund’ pension auto-enrolment scheme.
For employers, it’s important to understand what this means for both your business and your employees.
What is My Future Fund?
Ireland’s new pension auto-enrolment scheme, also known as ‘My Future Fund’, was introduced by the Irish government to improve overall access to workplace pensions for Irish employees.
The State-run scheme, which launched on 1 January 2026, applies to all employees between the ages of 23 and 60 who earn over €20,000 per year and are not yet enrolled in any occupational private pension scheme. When the scheme came into effect in January, approximately 750,000 people were automatically enrolled.
An employee’s My Future Fund is made up of employee contributions, employer contributions, and an additional top up from the State.
Opting out or suspending My Future Fund contributions
After 6 months of being enrolled in the scheme, employees can choose to opt out or suspend contributions. For many employees, this 6-month point has now been reached.
There is a two-month window (between months 7 and 8) during which the employee can opt out, or alternatively they may suspend their participation at any point after 6 months.
Opting out will stop contributions being made into the pension fund and grant the employee a refund on their contributions up to that point. Suspending participation, on the other hand, simply means that all contributions into the fund will be stopped for at least 12 months. Employees may choose to re-enrol after suspending or opting out, provided they are still eligible.
If the employee has not re-enrolled after two years, and is still eligible, they will then be automatically re-enrolled into the scheme.
What should employers do now?
As a business owner, it’s important to track which of your employees are currently enrolled in My Future Fund, which are now eligible to opt out, and which have already done so.
Employers should conduct regular payroll audits to ensure that everything is set up correctly, and HR documentation should be reviewed and revised every time there is a change to an employee’s pension status.
