May 03, 2022
Pension Auto-Enrolment Set to Be Introduced in 2024
Last month, the Government announced some of the detail around the new proposed auto-enrolment pension system. The Government will pay €1 for every €3 employees contribute to their pension. Employees earning more than €20,000 per annum will be automatically enrolled to make pension contributions - however, they will have the option to opt out of the scheme. Employers will be expected to match the employee’s contribution but the plan is to introduce the scheme on a gradual basis to mitigate the financial impact. The scheme will be rolled out gradually over a decade, with both employer and employee contributions starting at 1.5%, and increasing every three years by 1.5% until they eventually reach 6% by Year 10 (2034).
Government Plans to Bring Mandatory Living Wage to Cabinet before Summer
An Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Leo Varadkar announced last month that plans for the introduction of a mandatory living wage will be brought before the Government ahead of the summer recess. The current living wage is set at €12.90 per hour, a figure calculated by the Living Wage Technical Group and is the basic amount that is deemed necessary to cover an average worker’s needs to a socially acceptable standard. This figure is €2.40 per hour more than the minimum wage of €10.50 p/hr. It still needs to be decided how the living wage would be calculated but Varadkar said that there was merit in a basket of goods and services approach. However another approach could be setting the living wage as a percentage of the median wage, which is a simpler approach.