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Pensions & Benefits

Lavelle Partners Employment Team are highly experienced in advising both employers and employees in relation to Pensions and Benefits.

In Ireland, pensions are regulated by The Pensions Authority; a statutory body set up under the Pensions Act, 1990 (the "Act").

If you are an employer, you are currently under no legal obligation to provide a pension scheme to your employees. If you do not provide an occupational pension scheme, however, you must ensure they have access to a Personal Retirement Savings Account ("PRSA"). See below for more information on PRSAs.

Our Pensions & Benefits Expertise

We understand the legal aspects of pension and benefits provision within Ireland and can advise you regardless of whether you are in the private or public sector.

Since we advise business and organisations on pension and benefits matters, we are best placed to represent and guide employees too.

Our Multi-Disciplinary Expertise

As a full-service law firm, client's benefit from our multi-disciplinary expertise, where we collaborate with solicitors in other practice areas to provide you with expert legal advice and guidance which meets your needs. Our Employment Solicitors regularly liaise with our Corporate & Commercial, Property and Litigation & Dispute Resolution Teams as appropriate.

Our Partnership with Talbot Pierce

Lavelle Partners work with Talbot Pierce Consulting to provide a seamless service in respect of Human Resource Management.

Talbot Pierce are a team of specialist HR professionals who work with us on a range of matters including advice on and delivery of conflict/dispute resolution solutions, best-practice HR strategies, policies and procedures.

Retirement pensions are a vital ingredient in ensuring you have sufficient funds for when you no longer work. There are three main types of pensions available in Ireland:

Occupational Pensions: Many employers now have pension schemes in place which are available to employees. Not only do occupational pensions provide a tax efficient way of saving for retirement, but you will also typically benefit from the contribution of your employer (depending on the type of pension – see below). These generally work on a defined contribution ("DC") model, whereby the amount available at retirement is dependent on how much has been accrued.
Personal Pensions: These include Personal Retirement Savings Accounts ("PRSA") (see further below) and Retirement Annuity Contracts ("RAC"), otherwise referred to as a private pension.
Public Service Pensions: These are relevant for civil and public servants.

In Ireland, there is currently no legal requirement for an employer to provide an occupational pension to workers. However, if they do not, they must ensure that employees have access to a Personal Retirement Savings Account ("PRSA").

If employers provide an occupational pension, it may be either contributory (whereby the employer and the employee make contributions), or non-contributory (whereby only the employee makes contributions).

Personal Retirement Savings Account ("PRSAs") are a form of a tax-efficient savings account. They are administered by a range of authorised providers and are open to anyone regardless of their employment status. Employees can hold both an occupational pension and PRSA concurrently.

Employer Obligations

As an employer, you will typically deduct an employee’s PRSA payment from their salary and ensure these are paid to the provider.

In order to fulfil your obligations, you will need to:

Nominate a PRSA provider
Communicate the chosen PRSA provider to your employees – with relevant details of the type of scheme selected
Offer your employees (in writing) the option to opt into the PRSA and have their deductions taken from their pay automatically
Check the PRSA is approved under the Act.

You will not have to pay any contribution to the PRSA (although there are tax advantages of doing so) and you will not be responsible for the choice of funds and its performance.

Yes, the Pensions Authority can issue ‘on the spot fines’ for failure to comply with the Pension Act; €2,000 for each offence.

As such, it is important to seek professional assistance with your occupational pension provision, and when providing access to a PRSA.

Our Employment Team can assist you with regard to any pension or PRSA matter. If you are looking to implement a new scheme, or are facing a potential complaint or fine in terms of your current pension provision, we will seek to understand the issues at hand and provide you with the range of options to move forward with your best interests in mind.

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Why Choose Lavelle for advice on Pensions & Benefits?

Our Employment Team, headed up by Partner Marc Fitzgibbon, have been advising employers and employees for over 35 years in relation to Pensions & Benefits and have a strong reputation for excellence in this area of law.
Marc is ranked in Band 2 in the latest Chambers and Partners Europe 2024 Guide for Employment: Mainly Plaintiff.
We are specialists in advising on all aspects of employer and employee pensions and benefits including advice, disputes, negotiation and employment contracts.
Our Employment solicitors are pragmatic, pro-active and with strong business acumen to advise on the optimal strategy for you or your organisation.
As a full-service law firm, client's benefit from our multi-disciplinary offering and our specialist legal expertise across a number of related practice areas including Banking & Finance, Corporate & Commercial and Property.