Most people in Ireland have at least one pension they have not looked at since the day it was set up. Many have three or four: a scheme from a previous job, a PRSA from a spell of contracting, and whatever the current employer pays into. A pension review puts them all on one page and answers two questions. Is each one doing its job? And would you be better off moving any of them?
Charges come first. Standard PRSA charges are capped by law at 5% of each contribution and 1% a year of the fund. Other pension products have no cap, and older plans can carry higher charges, policy fees and exit penalties. On a €150,000 fund, a 1% a year difference in charges adds up to €57,752 over 20 years in the illustration below.
This page covers what a review checks, how to read your benefit statement, what happens to your pension when you leave a job, and when a transfer makes sense and when it does not. If your pension is in the UK, the rules are on our UK pension transfer page.
Do I need a pension review?
You need one if any of these apply:
- You have a pension from a previous job and cannot say what it is worth today.
- You do not know the annual charge on your pension.
- You are still in the fund you were put into when you joined.
- Your salary has risen since you set the contribution and the contribution has not.
- You have not named who should receive the benefit if you die.
- You are within ten years of retirement and are not sure what your options will be.
A review is not a pitch for a transfer. Often the outcome is a change of fund, a higher contribution, or a note that everything is in order. We suggest a full review once a year, and sooner after a new job, a pay rise, a mortgage, a marriage or a separation.
What does a pension review check?
Your advisor works through seven areas. You send the statements; we do the reading.
Charges
The annual management charge (AMC), any policy fee, the allocation rate (how much of each €100 you pay is invested) and any exit penalty. A standard PRSA cannot charge more than 5% of each contribution and 1% of the fund each year. Other products have no legal cap, so the only way to know is to read the policy conditions.
Fund choice and risk level
Which funds you hold, how they have done against comparable funds, and whether the risk level matches your years to retirement. A 30-year-old in a cash fund and a 63-year-old in a high-equity fund are both in the wrong place, for opposite reasons.
Contribution level against the age-related limits
Revenue gives income tax relief on personal contributions up to a percentage of earnings that rises with age (table below). We check what you and your employer pay against that limit and against what you will need at retirement. Our pension calculator gives a first estimate before the review.
Old pensions from previous jobs
Every scheme you were ever a member of. Benefits you left behind are still yours, and they are still being charged. If you cannot find one, our pension tracing service tracks it down.
Death benefits and nominations
What your family would get if you died before retirement, and whether the scheme has your current wishes on file. An occupational scheme can pay a death-in-service lump sum of up to four times your final salary (Revenue Pensions Manual). Many members have never completed the expression of wish form, or completed it years ago for someone they are no longer with.
Retirement age and options
The normal retirement age on each plan, the earliest you could access it, and what happens then: lump sum, an approved retirement fund (ARF) or an annuity. Occupational scheme benefits can be taken from 50 once you have left that employment. PRSAs and personal pensions can be taken from 60.
Whether contributions are being paid correctly
That the deduction on your payslip matches what lands in the plan, that the employer contribution is what your contract says, and that tax relief has been applied. Where you pay into a PRSA or personal pension yourself, we check the relief was claimed, and whether a contribution paid before 31 October could be set against the previous tax year.
How much difference do pension charges make?
Meet Claire. She is 42, has €150,000 in a pension from a previous employer, and plans to retire at 62. Her old plan costs 2% a year in total: a 1.5% annual management charge plus a policy fee that works out at about 0.5%. A comparable plan she could move to costs 1% a year.
Assume both funds grow at 5% a year before charges. That figure is an illustration, not a forecast. The value of your investment may go down as well as up.
The maths, line by line:
- Old plan: 5% growth minus 2% in charges leaves 3% a year net.
- New plan: 5% growth minus 1% in charges leaves 4% a year net.
- Year 1, old plan: €150,000 × 1.03 = €154,500.
- Year 1, new plan: €150,000 × 1.04 = €156,000.
- Year 20, old plan: €150,000 × 1.03 to the power of 20 = €270,917.
- Year 20, new plan: €150,000 × 1.04 to the power of 20 = €328,668.
| Year | 2% a year charge (3% net) | 1% a year charge (4% net) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | €173,891 | €182,498 | €8,607 |
| 10 | €201,587 | €222,037 | €20,449 |
| 15 | €233,695 | €270,142 | €36,446 |
| 20 | €270,917 | €328,668 | €57,752 |
One percentage point a year, held for 20 years, is €57,752 on this fund, before any exit penalty on the old plan and before any further contributions. Would the 1% plan be the right move for Claire? Only if its funds are at least as suitable, the exit penalty is small, and she is not giving up a guarantee. The review establishes that before we recommend anything.
Find out what your pension is doing.
Charges, funds and old pots checked, with a clear recommendation: leave it, move it or combine it.
How do I read my pension benefit statement?
Since 2023/2024, members of Irish occupational schemes receive a pension benefit statement every year (Pensions Authority). PRSA holders receive a statement of reasonable projection. The layout varies by provider, but you are looking for six things:
- The fund value and the date it was valued.
- Contributions in the year, yours and your employer’s, shown separately.
- The funds you are invested in and the split between them.
- Charges: AMC, policy fee and allocation rate. If they are not on the statement, we ask the provider for them in writing.
- The projected benefit at retirement. A defined contribution statement shows two estimates on different assumptions; the Pensions Authority notes you will only know your benefits shortly before you retire.
- The normal retirement age, and any preserved benefit or transfer value shown.
Am I paying enough into my pension?
Revenue allows income tax relief on personal contributions up to these limits, on earnings up to €115,000 a year:
| Age | Limit as a percentage of earnings |
|---|---|
| Under 30 | 15% |
| 30 to 39 | 20% |
| 40 to 49 | 25% |
| 50 to 54 | 30% |
| 55 to 59 | 35% |
| 60 and over | 40% |
Employer contributions do not count against your limit. Relief is at your marginal rate, 20% or 40%. USC and PRSI are not relieved.
Meet John. He is 45, earns €60,000, and pays 5% into his employer’s scheme. His employer also pays 5%.
- His age-related limit: 25% of €60,000 = €15,000 a year.
- He pays 5% of €60,000 = €3,000. The employer’s €3,000 does not count against his limit.
- Headroom: €15,000 minus €3,000 = €12,000.
- The single person’s standard rate band for 2026 is €44,000, so €16,000 of John’s salary is taxed at 40%. An extra €12,000 into his pension gets 40% relief in full.
- Relief: €12,000 × 40% = €4,800.
- Net cost to John: €12,000 minus €4,800 = €7,200 a year, or €600 a month for €1,000 a month going into the fund.
He can pay the extra as Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) inside the scheme or into a standalone AVC PRSA; our AVC page compares the two. The same table applies to the self-employed through a PRSA or personal pension; see pensions for the self-employed and company directors.
What happens to my pension when I leave a job?
The Pensions Authority sets out your choices when you leave an occupational scheme:
- Leave the benefit in the scheme. If you have more than two years’ qualifying service, you have a preserved benefit and can leave it there until you retire.
- Transfer it to another arrangement: your new employer’s scheme, a personal retirement bond (PRB, also called a buy-out bond), a PRSA, or an overseas scheme.
- Take a refund of your own contributions, which is available only in limited circumstances.
Nothing happens on its own. A scheme you leave keeps charging and keeps you in whatever fund you were in on your last day. The PRSA route has one extra rule: the PRSA provider must be given a certificate comparing the benefits under the scheme and the PRSA, unless the transfer value is under €10,000.
Should I transfer my pension or leave it where it is?
Four homes for a pension from a job you have left, compared on what decides it.
| Leave it in the old scheme | Transfer to your new employer’s scheme | Personal retirement bond (PRB) | PRSA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | The trustees set the fund range; you choose within it | The new trustees set the fund range; you choose within it | Yours: you pick the provider and the funds | Yours: you pick the provider and the funds, and you can keep contributing |
| Charges | The old scheme’s charges continue, usually on terms the old employer negotiated | The new scheme’s charges, usually negotiated by the new employer | Set by the bond provider; no legal cap | Standard PRSA capped at 5% of contributions and 1% a year; non-standard PRSAs have no cap |
| Access age | The scheme’s normal retirement age; from 50 as you have left that employment | The new scheme’s normal retirement age; from 50 only once you leave that job too | From 50, because it holds benefits from an employment you have left | From 60; from 50 for the transferred occupational money if you have retired from that employment |
| Who manages it | The old scheme’s trustees and administrator | The new scheme’s trustees and administrator | The bond provider, with your advisor | The PRSA provider, with your advisor |
| When it suits | Defined benefit schemes, schemes with guarantees, and low-charge employer schemes | You want one pot, the new scheme has good charges and funds, and it accepts transfers | You want your own pot with nothing more going in, and access from 50 matters | You are self-employed, between jobs or want to keep paying in, and you want a capped charge |
A transfer is not always the right answer. Five situations where we usually say leave it:
- Defined benefit schemes promise an income for life based on salary and service. Giving up that guarantee for a lump of money is rarely right, and it cannot be undone.
- Some older plans carry a guaranteed annuity rate, a guaranteed growth rate or a protected lump sum. These are lost on transfer.
- An exit penalty on an older plan can wipe out years of the saving from a lower charge.
- Death-in-service cover attached to an employer’s scheme ends when you leave and does not move with the fund.
- Moving from an employer’s scheme to a personal plan moves the running of it from the trustees to you.
Can I consolidate my pensions into one?
In most cases, yes. John from the example above is typical. He has his current employer’s scheme, a preserved scheme from a previous employer worth €48,000, and a PRSA from two years of contracting worth €22,000.
He has three routes: bring the €48,000 into his current employer’s scheme, if it accepts transfers; move both old pots into a single PRSA, now that he has left the old employment; or put the €48,000 into a PRB and leave the PRSA as it is. The review compares the charges on each pot and checks the old scheme for guarantees and exit penalties.
One pot is easier to watch, to review each year and for your family to find. It is not automatically cheaper, and combining is wrong where the old scheme is defined benefit or carries a guarantee. If you are self-employed, a PRSA can take the transfers and your ongoing contributions; our starting a pension page covers the set-up and our private pension page compares a PRSA with a personal pension.
How does a pension transfer work?
- Gather the paperwork: the latest statement for each pension, the scheme or policy details and your PPS number.
- We request a current transfer value and the leaving-service options from each trustee or provider.
- We compare charges, funds, guarantees, exit penalties and access ages in writing, with the certificate of comparison where a PRSA is the destination.
- You get a recommendation: leave it, transfer it, or split the pots between two homes.
- If you go ahead, we complete the transfer forms and set up the receiving plan. The old provider sends the money; the new provider invests it in the funds you chose.
- You get written confirmation, and the new plan goes into your file for next year’s review.
Timing depends on the providers at each end, so we do not quote a number of weeks. Transfers between Revenue-approved Irish pensions are not taxed, and receiving a transfer does not reduce your entitlement to a retirement lump sum (Revenue Pensions Manual chapter 13). A transfer from the UK follows HMRC’s QROPS rules instead.
What is a pension transfer value?
The transfer value is the amount the scheme will pay across to another arrangement on your behalf. For a defined contribution scheme or a PRSA, it is the fund value less any exit penalty, and it moves with the markets until the transfer completes. For a defined benefit scheme, the scheme’s actuary calculates it from the pension you were promised, your age and the trustees’ assumptions, so it can change a lot from one year to the next.
