In 2022, questions on awareness of and interest in partaking in the Government's planned Auto Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme, were included in the survey questionnaire.
Under this scheme, workers who do not have an occupational pension will be automatically enrolled in a new retirement savings scheme if they’re aged 23 to 60. The employer and the State will also contribute to the retirement savings scheme on their behalf. More information on this planned Government scheme is available in the Background Notes.
The new questions in the 2022 survey questionnaire on the Auto Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme, were asked only of respondents who had no occupational pension cover from their current employment.
The planned retirement savings scheme only applies to persons aged 23 to 60 years. However, all respondents aged 20 to 69 years who do not have occupational pension coverage from their current employment, were asked about their awareness of the planned retirements savings scheme.
Of these respondents, less than one in five (18%) were aware of Government’s planned Auto Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme. Analysis by age group shows that males were more aware of the scheme than females – 21% of males with no current occupational pension cover had heard of the planned Government scheme, compared with 16% of females. Males aged 45 to 69 years were most aware of the scheme (26%). See Table 7.1.
One in five (20%) Irish nationals had heard of the Auto Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme, compared with only one in eight (12%) non-Irish nationals. See Table 7.1.
Full-time workers who were working in small organisations but had no occupational pension cover form their current employment, were most aware of the planned Government retirement savings scheme – 23% of these workers had heard of the scheme. By comparison, persons working part-time in medium sized organisation (with 20 to 49 employees) were least aware of the planned retirement savings scheme (10%). See Table 7.1.
Of respondents who are eligible to be auto enrolled in this planned retirement savings scheme (aged 23 to 60 with no occupational cover from their current employment), 18% were aware of the scheme. Of these respondents, almost two thirds (65%) said that they would stay in the scheme if automatically enrolled in it. See Tables 7.1 and 7.2.
At an overall level, females were more likely than males to remain in the scheme if they were auto enrolled in it – 69% of females compared with 61% of males. However, older males aged 45 to 60 were more likely than females of similar age to remain in the scheme if they were automatically enrolled in it – 64% of males aged 45 to 60 compared with 56% of females in this age group. See Table 7.2.
Part-time workers with no occupational pension cover from their current employment and to whom the scheme applies (aged 23 to 60 with no occupational pension cover), were more likely to stay in the scheme than their full-time equivalents – 68% of these part-time employees compared with 64% of full-time persons in employment. See Table 7.2.
Over three quarters (77%) of workers who were aware of the planned Government retirement savings scheme and are eligible for it and would stay in the scheme if auto enrolled in it, had said that the reason for their not having occupational cover from their current employment was that their employer did not offer such a scheme. See Table 7.3.
Workers who are outside the age range for auto enrolment in the scheme, can opt in to the scheme. Respondents in this age range (20 to 22 years or 61 to 69 years) were asked if they were likely to opt-in to the scheme. Over one in five (21%) had not heard of the planned Government scheme but said that they would opt in to the scheme, while one in sixteen (6%) were aware of the scheme and would opt in to it. Nearly three in ten (28%) were not aware of the scheme but were not interested in opting in to the planned scheme. See Table 7.4.
Of workers in this age range (20 to 22 years or 61 to 69 years) and who do not have an occupation pension from their current employment, three in ten (30%) who gave the reason of ‘employer does not offer pension scheme’ as their reason for not having occupational pension cover, say that they would opt in to the scheme. See Table 7.4.
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