Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 section 51

Exempt employment

Section 51 defines when an employee's employment is considered "exempt employment" for automatic enrolment purposes, meaning the employee does not need to be automatically enrolled because adequate pension contributions are already being made through that employment.

• An employment is exempt if it satisfies either an employee contributions test or an employer contributions test — meaning pension contributions are already being made through an existing qualifying pension arrangement.
• The employee contributions test is met where amounts are being deducted from the employee's pay for contributions to a qualifying occupational pension scheme, PRSA, trust RAC, or PEPP, and the employer is required to notify Revenue of those deductions under payroll reporting rules.
• The employer contributions test is met where the employer makes contributions on the employee's behalf to any of those same qualifying pension arrangements, and is likewise required to notify Revenue of those contributions under payroll reporting rules.
• Each type of pension arrangement (occupational pension scheme, PRSA, trust RAC, or PEPP) is a "qualifying" arrangement either by meeting standards set by regulations under section 52, or — where no such standards have been prescribed — by simply being an arrangement of that type.