Gender and proposed auto-enrolment in the Republic of Ireland : lessons from the UK

The introduction of ‘soft’ compulsion in the form of auto-enrolment into non-state pensions has been seen as a key policy response to the challenges presented by an ageing population and concerns about under-saving for retirement in the UK. Since its introduction in 2012, among eligible employees in the private sector, pension participation had risen by over 31 percentage points to 73% of eligible employees in 2016. Despite these trends, auto-enrolment in the UK has not been without criticism, particularly in terms of its exclusion of certain groups, including carers, among whom females are over-represented. The Republic of Ireland (ROI) has recently announced its intention to implement an auto-enrolment pension scheme. As such, this paper examines the UK’s experience of rolling out auto-enrolment policy and considers lessons that could be learned by the ROI from the UK in its pursuit of auto-enrolment, with a particular focus on women’s pensions. Initially it outlines the current Irish pension system, the gendered nature of pensions, and the proposed auto-enrolment system in ROI. Then it discusses the UK’s experience of auto-enrolment, with a particular focus on gender, before examining the lessons the ROI can learn from the UK’s auto-enrolment policy in relation to women and pensions. Finally, it concludes that auto-enrolment alone will not resolve the gendered nature of pensions in the ROI and calls for a gender-based assessment of the proposed policy of auto-enrolment in the ROI.