Tata Consultancy Services in Letterkenny has been selected to manage the government’s automatic enrolment pension scheme.
The global delivery centre in Donegal was the preferred bidder to provide administration on the historic scheme, which was passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.
The scheme will now be sent to the President for his signature, after which it will be passed into law.
The Bill provides for a new retirement savings scheme for workers who are not already members of a pension scheme.
The first enrolments are set to happen in 2025. All employees not already in an occupational or equivalent pension scheme, aged between 23 and 60, and earning over €20,000 across all of their employments, will be automatically enrolled.
Ireland is the only OECD country that does not yet operate an Auto Enrolment or similar system as a means of promoting pension savings.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will cut administrative work required by employers. The organisation will identify and enrol participants, collect and pool contributions, arrange for the investment of contributions, manage participant accounts including opt-outs, suspensions and opt-ins, and facilitate the payment of savings at retirement.
TCS has been the pensions administration provider for NEST in the UK since 2011. Although distinct in design, NEST (the National Employment Savings Trust) is the UK Government’s equivalent of the Auto Enrolment Scheme. It currently services approximately 13 million participants.
TCS’s global delivery centre in Letterkenny employs close to 1,400 people and provides a variety of services including pension administration, cyber security, IT support, and customer service.
Commenting at the passing of the Bill, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said: “Auto-enrolment is a truly transformative policy that I am proud to deliver for Ireland. It will make sure that hard working men and women across the country will be able to save for their future, with help from their employers and the State. I am delighted that this historic legislation has now passed both Houses of the Oireachtas and look forward to it being enacted shortly.”
Minister Humphreys continued: “I am also pleased that we have concluded the procurement process to source a managed service for the provision and operation of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme and look forward to engaging with TCS as our preferred bidder for these services.”
The Minister added: “Auto Enrolment has been talked about for decades – now it is finally happening. With the completion of these two major milestones, the AE train is fast approaching its destination and we are very much on track for delivery of this landmark initiative for the people of Ireland.”
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