Irish employee benefits platform, Kota, has launched an alternative auto-enrolment (AE) solution for employers, ahead of the rollout of the government pension system next year.

The platform, developed following a €12.6m Series A investment in May, enables businesses to become AE compliant through an occupational pension offering with Irish Life.

As part of Kota’s pension offering, organisations can sync employee data, set minimum contributions, and have eligible hires automatically enrolled.
After facing years of delays, the government’s AE scheme is set to launch on 1 January 2026 – known as My Future Fund.

However, a recent survey by Aon found that 25 per cent of Irish businesses are yet to take action to prepare for the launch of AE, with many still concerned over the additional costs the initiative will bring.

When the scheme is launched, employees not already in an occupational pension scheme, aged between 23 and 60 and earning over €20,000 across all of their employments, will be automatically enrolled.

Commenting, Kota head of benefits, Trevor Gardiner, said: “We’ve spent thousands of hours working alongside Irish employers as they prepare for the upcoming changes.

“Auto-enrolment has been a really positive catalyst, prompting Irish employers to talk seriously about retirement benefits. But from our conversations, it’s clear the state scheme won’t work for everyone. That’s why we’ve built a solution for companies that want more control over employee experience, cost, and compliance, without the complexity.”

While the government’s AE scheme is welcomed by many in the Irish pensions sector, the differences between the scheme and occupational pension offerings have been highlighted.

For example, My Future Fund does not allow additional voluntary contributions (AVCs), and savings are inaccessible until the national retirement age of 66. It also has fixed contribution rates, with no room for employer discretion; an €80,000 salary cap on contributions also applies, along with reduced tax relief for those taxed at 40 per cent.

Although employees will be able to see their pension pot through a government-managed portal, it does not allow employers to take control over their employees’ experience.

However, choosing an occupational pension offering instead of AE presents the challenge of ensuring the scheme is correctly set up to qualify for full exemption. Indeed, failure to do so could result in businesses running two pension schemes simultaneously.

Despite this need, Kota CEO and co-founder, Luke Mackey, warned that “thousands” of Irish employers are concerned about AE but receiving “little guidance from traditional brokers”.

Therefore, Kota has developed a system that links an employer’s HR platform directly with occupational pension enrolment, allowing new employees to be added automatically once they join the organisation. The process is designed to remove the manual steps often involved in pension onboarding, reducing the risk of delays or administrative errors.

The platform synchronises HR and payroll data with Irish Life to set up occupational pensions and maintain compliance with eligibility rules.
It provides employees with access to a digital interface where they can view and adjust their retirement savings, and it operates under a Central Bank of Ireland intermediary licence.

Kota’s technology is already in use at Remote.com as well as a range of European growth-stage companies.

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