As we continue our series on the introduction of the auto enrolment pension scheme for Irish SMEs, this topic relates to some of the early stage ‘bugbears’, fails and challenges within the new system!

To recap, the national (or State default)  workplace pension savings system is known as My Future Fund, and the whole system is being administered by National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority or NAERSA – based up in Donegal!

NAERSA has responsibilities all the way from 

• Identifying eligible employees using Revenue payroll data
• Enrolling relevant employees into the auto enrolment scheme, and 
• Collecting all pension contributions

However the stated aim of the Government, is that the introduction of the auto enrolment pension scheme and MyFutureFund, should have ONLY a minimal additional administrative burden for Employers!

SO how are they doing at this point  . . . . . .

What has Gone Well?

The MyFutureFund Employer portal has operated quite well i.e. it is fairly simple and straightforward in terms of the Dashboard, the submissions and the Inbox for communications – whether for registrations, AEPNs and confirmation letters for enrolled employees etc.

The link or connection with the ROS Revenue system appears to be working quite well too, and operates fairly smoothly i.e. the typical refresh of ROS payroll data and tax codes within payroll software, now also does exactly the same for the auto enrolment status updates !

What has NOT Gone so Well?

Well – firstly the MyFutureFund crashed on it’s few days of operation, so it actually took about 5 days to be able to register clients on the portal back in December 2025 after it’s launch date  . . ..

Secondly, the lack of being able to search for Client accounts in the Employer portal by NAME is a frustration, so if you have a large number of Clients that you are handling the payroll and auto enrolment administration for, then you need to have their tax reference number for each (rather than just knowing the name of your Client).

The more important ‘bugbear’ and challenge for our clients relates to those Employers or Employees that set up an alternative pension scheme to the MyFutureFund. 

What I have found is that for the first payroll that the NEW pension scheme is processed in the payroll for those employees – then an additional MyFutureFund contribution is ALSO taken from the Employee AND the Employer in that payroll run.

There was little or no communication in the lead up to the introduction of the scheme or in these early months around the topic of refunds or repayments – for Employers or even to financial advisors!

As it turns out the refunds or repayment process for Employees and Employers is simply put –
VERY POOR! 

It involves 

• contacting NAERSA to request a refund for duplicated contributions 
• obtaining a notification of a Refund form in the MyFutureFund portal 
• Completing the Refund form with the details of each of the Employees requiring a refund (including supporting evidence), and then 
• Returning the Refund form by post to NAERSA 

Frankly NOT a process that minimises the administrative burden for Employers. . . . . . . .

Final Thoughts

With the introduction of such a large and all encompassing system nationwide, there were always going to be teething problems, (and there certainly have been a few), which has added some challenges and additional admin burdens for Employers (and their advisors).

I expect to see these being resolved fairly quickly over the coming months, however when dealing with people’s money, I think it is something that should have been considered more closely at the outset by Government and/or NAERSA.

And for our clients who have refunds or repayments due back to them – if you could give the SAKURA Team a little time, then we WILL get these actioned and repaid to your Employees  . . . . . ..

TAKE THE NEXT STEP!

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