A third of workers have no cover outside of State pension
68% of workers aged between 20 and 69 have some form of pension cover outside of the State pension, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
The number of people taking out a pension increases with age, according to the data.
Just 33% of those aged between 20 to 24 had supplementary cover between July and September last year, up 2% on the same period in 2022.
This compares with 73% of the oldest age group surveyed – those aged between 55 and 69.
Most cover is with ‘Defined Contribution’ pensions at 66%, up from 62% the previous year.
The number with ‘Defined Benefit’ pensions dropped to 30% from 32%.
The CSO data shows that 83% of professionals have pension cover, compared with just 48% of skilled trade workers.
Almost 60% of workers with no supplementary cover said they expected the State pension would be their main source of income on retirement.
In terms of the reasons why they do not have cover, 43% said they can’t afford it, while a similar amount said they never got around to organising it – or would organise it in the future.
Commenting on today’s figures, Mark Reilly, Pension Proposition Lead at Royal London Ireland said it is concerning that almost a third of workers have no private pension cover and will be depending only on the State pension in retirement.
“The maximum State pension is currently €277.30 a week for those aged 66 to 79 – or €287.30 a week for those aged 80 or older,” he said.
“It is also concerning that the report shows there has been only a very slight improvement in private pension coverage since the latest figures were published a year ago,” he added.
The State’s new auto-enrolment pension scheme will be delivered in 2024 with the first enrolments expected by the end of this year.
The scheme is aimed at workers aged 23 to 60 years with no occupational pension cover from their current employers.
According to today’s CSO data, 20% of respondents who are eligible for the scheme said they are aware of it.
Of these, over 70% said they would stay in the scheme if automatically enrolled in it.
Article Source – A third of workers have no cover outside of State pension – RTE
