{"id":467445,"date":"2026-05-04T05:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T05:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/467445\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T05:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T05:36:13","slug":"staggering-number-of-workers-now-enrolled-in-mandatory-my-future-fund-pension-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/467445\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Staggering\u2019 number of workers now enrolled in mandatory My Future Fund pension scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

However, there are relatively low numbers in the new scheme from the accommodation and food services sector\n<\/p>\n

More than 800,000 workers are now enrolled in My Future Fund, which was launched only at the start of this year.<\/p>\n

It has emerged that tens of thousands of workers in the construction and retail sectors are now paying into the new auto-enrolment pension. These sectors traditionally have low levels of pension coverage.<\/p>\n

Around 7,000 workers have voluntarily signed up to My Future Fund, indicating that the scheme has been embraced by workers.<\/p>\n

My Future Fund is the new state-sponsored auto-enrolment retirement savings system. It launched on January 1 and it is designed for employees aged between 23 and 60 who earn more than \u20ac20,000 but who do not have a workplace pension.<\/p>\n

It involves automatic contributions from the employee, their employer and the State.<\/p>\n

In the lead-up to the launch of the new scheme, it was expected that 750,000 people would end up enrolled in it.<\/p>\n

\n

The early success of auto-enrolment through My Future Fund is very encouraging<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Figures provided to the Irish Independent by Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary show that 806,000 employees are now enrolled.<\/p>\n

The higher number is thought to be due to large numbers becoming eligible in the last few months, as well as thousands of workers voluntarily opting into the scheme.<\/p>\n

There is an even spread between men and women in the new scheme and age profile is also spread evenly.<\/p>\n

About 131,000 construction workers are in My Future Fund, while 122,000 signed up from the wholesale and retail trade sector.<\/p>\n

However, there are relatively low numbers in the new scheme from the accommodation and food services sector, relative to the numbers employed.<\/p>\n

Mr Calleary said: \u201cThe early success of auto-enrolment through My Future Fund is very encouraging, with over 806,000 employees now saving for their retirement for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is particularly positive to see strong participation across sectors such as construction and retail, where historically pension coverage has been lower.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Social<\/p>\n

Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary released the figures. Photo: Mary Browne<\/p>\n

Irish Congress of Trade Unions pensions spokeswoman Dr Laura Bambrick said the scheme was proving to be a massive success.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very encouraging that the number of workers saving for their retirement though auto-enrolment has surpassed a staggering 800,000 at the end of quarter one of the first year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She added that it was not surprising that retail was the most popular type of employment of auto-enrolment participants.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetail is the biggest employer in the economy, but these jobs don\u2019t tend to be good jobs,\u201d Dr Bambrick said.<\/p>\n

She was also not surprised at the low numbers working in hospitality who had been auto-enrolled.<\/p>\n

\n

The number of young, part-time and low-paid workers in hospitality was always going to mean auto-enrolment was a rarity<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The 55,000 amounts to around only one in four of the people employed in hospitality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told the reason for the \u20ac700m Vat cut hand-out for this sector was to compensate business owners for increased payroll costs. This was always over-egged,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

It was announced in the last budget that the Vat for the food-led hospitality sector and hairdressing would come down from 13.5pc to 9pc from July.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of young, part-time and low-paid workers in hospitality was always going to mean auto-enrolment was a rarity,\u201d Dr Bambrick added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe figures serve to further undermine the case for 9pc Vat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"However, there are relatively low numbers in the new scheme from the accommodation and food services sector More…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[177],"tags":[79,2107,21560,20812,18,13266,19,17,2090,234,235],"class_list":["post-467445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-charlie-weston","tag-dara-calleary","tag-department-of-social-protection","tag-eire","tag-ictu","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pensions","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116514690992491733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}