Ireland’s construction sector gears up for mandatory auto-enrolment pensions in 2026, CPAS clarifies the landscape for employers, highlighting the benefits of existing industry schemes like CWPS and CERS and outlining key considerations for securing their workers’ financial future.
Ireland’s construction sector is a vital pillar in Ireland’s economy and plays an essential role in shaping infrastructure and meeting our housing needs. As the industry continues to expand, the issue of pensions for workers has gained increasing attention, particularly with government plans to introduce Auto-enrolment pensions in January 2026.
The construction sector is building the country’s future. In CPAS, our goal is to help those construction employees enjoy financial security when they retire and protect them should they experience ill health or die while working. Since the Government first legislated for Auto-enrolment in 2024, we have been working hard to communicate the benefits of proper pension planning to both the members of our pension schemes CWPS and CERS and to all employers in the sector.
This article answers some of the questions we get asked as we continue to engage with employers and employees.
What is the Construction Workers Pension Scheme (CWPS)?
One of Ireland’s largest industry-specific occupational pension schemes, CWPS has been providing pensions for the construction sector and related industries since 1965. CWPS ensures workers have access to pension savings, along with ancillary benefits such as sick pay and life assurance. The transient nature of the construction workforce is always a challenge for pension coverage. Under CWPS, a member’s pension account moves with the employee if they change employer. This principle is known as “pot follows member” and will be incorporated into the Government’s new Auto-enrolment system. CWPS have operated this way for 60 years.
What is the Construction Executive Retirement Savings (CERS)?
Like CWPS, CERS is also an industry wide multi-employer occupational pension scheme. While CWPS generally offers fixed benefits in a “one size fits all” approach, CERS in contrast offers bespoke pension, life cover and income protection benefits for the sector. Employers can design a benefits package with CERS that will attract and retain key staff. Enhanced pension schemes foster long-term commitment among employee and can contribute to workforce stability.
Which is better – Auto-Enrolment or CWPS and CERS?
Auto-enrolment (AE) is a fundamentally different type of pension arrangement to CWPS and CERS, which are both Occupational Pension Schemes. For people working who do not currently have a pension, AE is preferable to reaching retirement age with only the State pension to live on. However, there are distinct advantages for occupational pension schemes such as CWPS and CERS over AE; in particular around tax relief, AVCs, early retirement and ancillary benefits such as life assurance and sick pay.
Will Auto-Enrolment replace my current CWPS or CERS pension scheme?
No. Auto-enrolment was set up to provide pensions for Irish workers who have not yet made provision for retirement savings. Employees who are members of CWPS or CERS, will not be brought into the Auto-Enrolment scheme.
What about my employees who are not in CWPS or CERS?
The simple answer would be to put them in CWPS or CERS, but this is not as straightforward as you would imagine. Not many contracts of employment include a provision that makes membership of your company pension scheme mandatory. For workers in the sector covered by Sectoral Employment Orders (SEO), membership of CWPS is mandatory for specified workers as required under the agreement for the sector. However, you may have employees not covered by the SEO. You have offered them membership of your company pension scheme, but they have opted not to join. What next? The following is a summary of your choices:
- Open your existing plan to all employees on an opt-in basis. This requires spending the next few months engaging with employees to persuade them that this is the best option. CPAS can help our CWPS and CERS clients with this communication task.
- Set up a new category under your existing plan but with AE matching rates and offer on an opt-in basis. Again, this requires good communication to get employees to opt in.
- Open the existing plan to all with employer-only contributions and encourage individual contributions.
- Do nothing new and AE will pick up your non-pensioned employees.
- Some mixture of the above.
In conclusion
These are just a few of the questions we are asked. As you can see, discussions can become extensive, and we recommend that employers establish an Action Plan to help meet their pension goals in time for the introduction of Auto-enrolment in January 2026.
It is important for the Construction Sector to invest in the welfare of its workforce to strengthen its foundation for growth and meet the demands of a growing economy. Investing in people is key to sustainable growth and a stable and secure workforce leads to higher productivity, better project outcomes, and overall improvement in industry standards.
CPAS recognises the role of employers in promoting pensions to the workforce and we are happy to talk to you about the best way we can help you achieve better outcomes for your workers at retirement. We can help you design suitable pension schemes and benefit packages, and we can communicate the value of this to your employees through written, online and in person communication.
If this article has raised questions of your own, please feel free to email us at info@cpas.ie or call us on (01) 407 1400. For more information, see www.cpas.ie
