Pensions expert calls for auto-enrolment age and income cut-off to be lowered

Ray McKenna, partner at pension specialist Lockton, said current thresholds meant women in particular would miss out on help to save adequate retirement income

Ray McKenna: ‘Setting the age at 23 will ensure many people miss out. People should be enrolled at 18 to establish the pensions savings habit as early as possible’

The income and age thresholds for the country’s auto-enrolment pension scheme should be lowered, an industry expert has said. The scheme, due to be rolled out from January 1 next year, is targeting the 725,000 workers in Ireland with no private pension.

Every worker from the age of 23 on a salary of over €20,000 will be automatically “opted-in” to the scheme, a method which has been found internationally to be more effective than asking ...