What happened during National Payroll Week 2026 in Ireland?

National Payroll Week 2026 brought together Irish payroll professionals to discuss critical employment law changes, the rollout of My Future Fund pension auto-enrolment, and emerging compliance tools. Sessions hosted by IPASS and Bright covered Statutory Sick Pay, Automatic Enrolment obligations, working conditions legislation, and the software solutions that can help manage these requirements at scale.

This blog is part of our series on Celebrating National Payroll Week 2026: The Numbers Every Payroll Team Should Know.

Employment Law Update 2026: What’s Changed for Irish Processors?

IPASS director Kieran Doherty hosted the principal session on employment law changes affecting Irish businesses. The focus was practical and discussed what’s changed, what’s coming, and what payroll processors need to act on now.

My Future Fund: Understanding the Administrative Reality

IPASS director Kieran Doherty focused on My Future Fund, Ireland’s automatic pension enrolment scheme, as a key compliance area for payroll processors. The numbers tell the story:

• Over 800,000 employees have been enrolled in My Future Fund

• Approximately 29,000 employees opted out during their personal opt-out window

• The opt-out rate represents approximately 4% of all enrolled employees

The opt-out window is critical as it opens six months after an employee’s enrolment date and remains open for two months. After those two months close, the next opportunity to opt out comes when contribution rates increase, which is scheduled for 2029. Payroll processors managing employers must ensure they’re tracking enrolment dates and communicating opt-out windows clearly.

Statutory Sick Pay: Where It Stands Now

Statutory Sick Pay in Ireland currently sits at five days per year. Kieran noted that there were expectations for further increases, but the current position remains at five days. Employers may choose to offer more favourable in-house sick pay schemes that replace the statutory requirement.

Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions

EU legislation requiring transparent and predictable working conditions has created new compliance obligations for employers. Under these provisions, employers must:

• Provide core employment terms to employees within 5 days

• Provide the full written employment statement within 1 month

Additionally, employees have the right to request a more predictable form of employment. Kieran explained that this applies to employees with varied or casual working patterns who want a banded contract or guaranteed set of hours. When an employee makes this request, the employer must respond within one month.

National Minimum Wage: Current Rates and Transition to Living Wage

Ireland’s National Minimum Wage is reviewed by The Low Pay Commission. They review the environment, statistics, and figures every year and makes annual recommendations for increases.

Current rates:

• National Minimum Wage is €14.15 per hour

• Different rates apply for employees under age 20, and there are separate rates for under-18s, 18-year-olds, and 19-year-olds

The Irish government had a plan to transition from a National Minimum Wage to a living wage by 2026. The Living Wage was defined as 60% of the median hourly wage rate in the country. However, because the increase required was substantial, implementation of this transition has been pushed back to 2029.

Kieran advised that over the next couple of years, the Low Pay Commission will likely continue to recommend year-on-year increases to the National Minimum Wage as the country works toward the 2029 Living Wage transition. The Low Pay Commission typically publishes its recommendations around July or August each year, with announcements following as part of government budget measures.

What Payroll Processors Should Monitor

Three immediate action points stand out:

• Verify your Auto Enrolment communication materials to employers

• Review employment contracts to ensure they comply with transparent and predictable working conditions requirements

• Stay alert for Low Pay Commission announcements and government budget announcements regarding National Minimum Wage changes

For busy payroll processors managing multiple clients, BrightPay Cloud is built specifically for Irish legislation and can track compliance requirements across all these areas. It’s in the cloud, any payroll legislation changes are applied in the background while you work. Not only that, but it also facilitates multi-user functionality so multiple team members can work on the same payroll file at once, from any location at any time.

Looking to streamline your payroll runs? Book a demo to see how BrightPay handles it all, no matter the size of your team or where you’re located.

This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.