Charities have warned budgets for key services will be hit by auto-enrolment pension rules which begin on January 1. This will see a pension contribution automatically deducted from their salary and transferred to a retirement savings account. In a paper on the impact of the changes, the Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI), and the National Disability Services Association (NDSA) warned funding is "essential" for the pension obligations of the sector. It will mean "significant additional costs associated with auto-enrolment" with one large employer from the groups' memberships saying their 2026 budget will be hit by around €1.3m of extra costs, with increasing costs as employer contributions increase. "This is a government-mandated measure applied to employers delivering State services, with no commercial levers to generate additional income."

Source: Irish Examiner December 24, 2025 03:46 UTC