{"id":150562,"date":"2025-11-24T17:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/150562\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T17:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:13:10","slug":"auto-enrolment-to-cost-small-business-average-of-e25000-says-recruiter-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/150562\/","title":{"rendered":"Auto-enrolment to cost small business average of \u20ac25,000, says recruiter \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The State\u2019s new<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/auto-enrolment\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/auto-enrolment\/\"> mandatory workplace pension scheme <\/a>will cost the average business \u20ac25,000 in additional employee-related costs when it comes into force next year, according to a survey by recruitment firm FRS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">And most of those businesses say they will respond either by raising prices or freezing hiring as the cost of auto-enrolment hits profits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">From January, up to 750,000 Irish workers who are aged between 23 and 60, earning in excess of \u20ac20,000 and not yet a member of a workplace pension scheme will be automatically signed up to the State\u2019s My Future Fund.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Initially, a sum equal to 1.5 per cent of the gross pay will be taken from their after tax income. Their employer will pay the same amount with the State adding \u20ac1 for every \u20ac3 invested by the worker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Most workers spoken to as part of the survey said, just over a month before it comes into force, they still don\u2019t fully understand how auto-enrolment will work or what it will mean for their financial security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">While most believe they need more advice on the scheme and how it will affect them, 60 per cent expect to stay signed up to My Future Fund, even though just one in four are confident it will improve their financial security in retirement. Seventy-two per cent see the likely cost as affordable or manageable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link\">[\u00a0<a aria-label=\"Open related story\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/your-money\/2025\/11\/23\/employer-still-in-the-dark-on-how-to-sign-staff-up-for-auto-enrolment\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Employer still in the dark on how to sign staff up for auto-enrolmentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cFrom an employee perspective, our survey shows that most Irish workers are yet to be convinced that auto-enrolment will actually improve their long-term financial security,\u201d FRS Co-op chief executive Colin Donnery said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Businesses estimated auto-enrolment related costs at between \u20ac5,000 and in excess of \u20ac100,000, with the average coming in at \u20ac25,000 in the first year of the scheme.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image audio_image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1754647931518-c07d65db-55b5-463e-ae51-976300c5837e.jpeg\"\/>How AI is beginning to wreak havoc in the jobs market <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Those costs will rise as wages climb and also as the level of contribution to the scheme increases to 3 per cent in 2029, 4.5 per cent in 2032 and 6 per cent from 2035 onwards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Three-quarters of employers expect the pension-related costs to hit their profits, with one-third expecting that impact to be \u201csignificant\u201d. Eight in 10 employers said they are likely either to freeze hiring or increase prices as a result, with the balance opting to cut back on planned investment in their businesses, or training. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cAuto-enrolment represents the most significant shift in Ireland\u2019s pension landscape in a generation,\u201d Mr Donnery said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cYet as our survey clearly highlights that many businesses are concerned about the additional cost pressures the scheme will bring, with over three quarters of employers expecting reduced profitability in 2026 as a result of auto-enrolment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The State\u2019s new mandatory workplace pension scheme will cost the average business \u20ac25,000 in additional employee-related costs when&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[8484,114,268,85,46,2955,266,267,1264],"class_list":{"0":"post-150562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-auto-enrolment","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-pension","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance","16":"tag-work"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}