Pension Auto-Enrolment Is Live: The My Future Fund Compliance Check Every Irish Hotel, Restaurant and Pub Should Run Now
by CWDH, 10 min reading time
Auto-enrolment has applied to Irish hospitality employers since 1 January 2026. Who is enrolled, what it costs, opt-outs, payroll pitfalls and penalties.
Pension auto-enrolment for hospitality employers has been live in Ireland since 1 January 2026, and the sector is more exposed to it than almost any other. My Future Fund, the State's automatic enrolment retirement savings system, pulls in every employee aged 23 to 60 who earns €20,000 or more across all their jobs and is not already paying into a workplace pension through payroll. In a hotel, restaurant, pub or café, that describes most of the floor, bar, kitchen and housekeeping team, many of whom have never been offered a pension. The employer contribution is 1.5% of gross pay now and rises in steps to 6%. Nine months in, the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) is issuing notifications and the first opt-out windows have opened and closed, so this is the moment to check that your payroll is doing what the law requires. This guide sets out who is enrolled, what it costs, the edge cases that catch hospitality payrolls, and the penalties for getting it wrong.
Key takeaways
- My Future Fund started on 1 January 2026. Employees aged 23–60 earning €20,000 or more a year (assessed as €5,000 over 13 weeks) and not in a payroll pension are enrolled automatically; others aged 18–66 can opt in.
- Contributions are 1.5% employee, 1.5% employer and 0.5% State for the first three years, rising to 3%/3%/1%, then 4.5%/4.5%/1.5%, and 6%/6%/2% from year ten. Employer and State contributions stop on earnings above €80,000.
- NAERSA decides eligibility from Revenue payroll data and tells you who to enrol; new starters have no waiting period.
- Staff must stay in for six months, can opt out in months seven and eight with a refund of their own contributions, and are re-enrolled after two years if still eligible.
- Penalties range from a €5,000 fixed penalty for administrative failures to fines of up to €50,000, recovery of unpaid contributions with interest, and up to three years' imprisonment for serious non-compliance.
Who in a hotel or restaurant is auto-enrolled?
The test has three parts, and NAERSA applies it for you using the payroll data your software already sends to Revenue, looking back over a 13-week period. An employee is enrolled if they are aged between 23 and 60, if their earnings across all employments are €20,000 or more a year (which NAERSA reads as €5,000 or more over 13 weeks), and if they are not already a member of a workplace pension scheme with contributions going through payroll in that pay period. Employers do not assess eligibility themselves; you receive an Automatic Enrolment Payroll Notification telling you who to enrol and what to deduct.
Three hospitality realities follow from that. First, the earnings test is across all jobs, so a part-time bar worker who earns €12,000 with you and €10,000 elsewhere is over the threshold and will be enrolled through both payrolls. Second, there is no probation or waiting period: a seasonal starter who meets the test is enrolled immediately, unlike many occupational schemes that exclude the first six months. Third, staff aged 18 to 22, and those earning below the threshold, are not enrolled automatically but can ask to opt in, and you must facilitate that.
Staff who already contribute to a pension through your payroll are left alone, and if an enrolled employee later joins a payroll scheme their My Future Fund contributions are suspended. A personal pension paid by direct debit from their own bank account does not count; the exemption is about payroll contributions.
What does auto-enrolment cost an employer?
Contributions are a percentage of gross pay and are phased over a decade. For the first three years, 2026 to 2028, the employee pays 1.5%, the employer pays 1.5% and the State adds 0.5%. In years four to six the employee and employer each pay 3% and the State 1%; in years seven to nine, 4.5% each and 1.5%; and from year ten onward, 6% each with 2% from the State. Employer and State contributions are not paid on earnings above €80,000 a year.
Worked at today's rate, a venue with 30 enrolled staff on an average of €30,000 is contributing 1.5% of €900,000, which is €13,500 a year, rising to €54,000 a year at the 6% rate in the 2030s if pay and headcount stayed the same. Employer contributions are deductible for corporation tax. Employees get no income tax relief on their own contributions, which are taken from net pay; instead the State top-up acts as the incentive, worth a third of what the employee puts in.
Budget for the step-ups now. The jump from 1.5% to 3% lands at the start of year four, and a venue that has priced its 2029 menus and room rates without it will feel the difference.
What exactly does the employer have to do?
Less than many fear, but it must be done exactly. You do not set up a scheme, choose a provider or pick funds; NAERSA runs the system and employees deal with it directly for their accounts. Your obligations are to keep payroll software that handles the AEPN notifications, enrol the people NAERSA names from the date it specifies, deduct the employee contribution and pay it with your employer contribution to NAERSA on time through payroll, process opt-outs and suspensions when NAERSA notifies them, and never discourage a worker from staying in.
That last point carries real teeth. Preventing enrolment, or inducing an employee to opt out, attracts penalties of €5,000 to €50,000 and potential prosecution. A manager who tells a new starter "most people opt out, it's only 1.5% but you'll miss it" is creating an offence for the business.
Opt-outs, re-enrolment and the questions staff will ask
An enrolled employee cannot leave straight away. They must stay in for six months, after which they have a two-month window, months seven and eight, to opt out and receive a refund of their own contributions. Your contributions and the State's stay in their account. Anyone who opts out is automatically re-enrolled after two years if they still meet the test, and the cycle repeats.
Because the first enrolments happened in January 2026, the first opt-out windows opened in July and August 2026 and have now closed for those staff; the next cohorts' windows open as they pass their own six-month mark. Expect questions at those points. Your answer should be factual and neutral: here is how it works, here is NAERSA's contact route, the decision is yours. Direct staff to the official My Future Fund information at gov.ie rather than offering an opinion.
Where hospitality payrolls go wrong
- Multiple employments: NAERSA aggregates earnings across employers, so staff you consider part-time can be enrolled. Do not override a notification because the figures look low to you.
- Seasonal and casual starters: there is no waiting period, so a May starter can be enrolled in their first pay run if NAERSA's lookback puts them over the threshold.
- Tips and service charge: check with your payroll provider how amounts paid through payroll are treated for contribution purposes, and apply it consistently.
- Existing schemes that are not through payroll: a staff member's own personal pension does not exempt them. Only payroll contributions to a workplace scheme do.
- Late payment: contributions must reach NAERSA on time. Arrears are recoverable with interest, and employees can be compensated for missed contributions.
- Payroll software: the system runs on AEPNs, so an out-of-date payroll package that does not process them is itself a compliance risk.
What are the penalties for employers?
The Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 gives NAERSA graduated enforcement powers. Administrative failures attract a fixed penalty of €5,000. Preventing enrolment or inducing opt-outs attracts penalties of €5,000 to €50,000 with potential prosecution. Non-payment of contributions leads to recovery of the amounts owed plus interest and compensation to the employee. Serious non-compliance can be prosecuted with fines of up to €50,000 and imprisonment of up to three years. Set against a 1.5% contribution, the economics of cutting corners do not work.
Frequently asked questions
When did auto-enrolment start in Ireland? My Future Fund went live on 1 January 2026, administered by NAERSA.
Which of my staff are enrolled? Employees aged 23–60 earning €20,000 or more a year across all employments (assessed as €5,000 over 13 weeks) who are not already contributing to a workplace pension through payroll. NAERSA identifies them from Revenue payroll data and notifies you.
How much does the employer pay? 1.5% of gross pay for the first three years, rising to 3%, then 4.5%, then 6% from year ten. Employer and State contributions stop on earnings above €80,000. Employer contributions are deductible for corporation tax.
Can staff opt out? Only after six months, during months seven and eight, with a refund of their own contributions. They are re-enrolled after two years if still eligible. Employers must not encourage opt-outs.
What happens if we get it wrong? Penalties range from a €5,000 fixed penalty for administrative failures to fines of up to €50,000, recovery of unpaid contributions with interest, and up to three years' imprisonment for serious non-compliance.
How CWDH can help
CWDH does not advise on payroll or pensions, but we do supply the things that keep good staff: aprons and workwear that can carry your logo, staff gifts and brandable recognition kits for long service and employee of the month, and the front-of-house equipment that makes a shift easier to run. Email us at info@cwdh.ie.
Sources: Citizens Information: Auto-enrolment (My Future Fund) · Crowe Ireland: Auto-enrolment tax and compliance guide · Sage: My Future Fund – what Irish employers need to know · NFP Ireland: Auto-enrolment 2026
This guide is a plain-English summary, not legal, tax or pensions advice — see Citizens Information on auto-enrolment and the official My Future Fund guidance on gov.ie for the full rules.
Photo: Vitaly Gariev / Unsplash. Other images: CWDH.
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