Mr. Tim Duggan:

One of the things auto-enrolment is designed to do is allow you to be exempt from auto-enrolment if you are in an occupational or private pension scheme, operated through payroll. However, the law also sets out that will be subject to exemption standards but they are not yet defined. At the beginning, if you are a member of such a scheme, you are exempt. The law says that within the first six years of the scheme, standards will be defined. For an occupational scheme or a PRSA operated through payroll to be exempt from auto-enrolment, it will have to comply with whatever standard is developed by NAERSA in conjunction with the Department, the Government and the Parliament over the next six years. That is a piece of work NAERSA needs to do.

People automatically jump to that it has to be the same contributions levels, at least. It is not that simple. Contribution levels can be based on different things. In most occupational schemes, they are based on base pay, whereas in auto-enrolment they are based on gross pay. The Senator knows there can be a world of difference between those things when you take into account allowances, overtime and all that kind of stuff. You cannot just do it on a contribution rate on its own, you have to have a more sophisticated manner of developing such a standard. There is a bit of work to be done to come up with such a standard.