Pensions and Employee Benefits

Our Pensions Group is one of the leading specialist teams in the Irish pensions sector. The Group has considerable experience providing advice on all aspects of pensions law to a wide range of corporate clients, public sector and former public sector clients, pension scheme trustees and scheme members.

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The Group provides the full range of pension advice including advice on scheme design, scheme set up, scheme administration, scheme mergers and winding ups. In addition, the Group advises on the pension aspects of mergers and acquisitions including the conduct of due diligence, the negotiation of related warranties and the merging or de-merging of pension schemes. We advise on a range of issues dealing with scheme administration and governance issues on a day to day basis. We also advise employers and trustees generally on all regulatory and compliance aspects of pension scheme administration including the handling of complaints and Pensions Authority enquiries and investigations. We advise companies and trustees on the full range of issues in relation to all aspects of occupational pension provisions, including:

Administration and governance of schemes
Interpretation of trust deeds
Amendment to schemes
Conversion from defined benefit to defined contribution
Accounting issues and FRS17
Family law pensions issues (divorce orders)
Pensions litigation and dispute resolution
Investment management and custody agreements

Pension Auto-Enrolment

Auto-enrolment is a new pension savings scheme for certain employees who are not currently paying into a pension. Auto-enrolment is expected to be introduced later this year. By providing your details below you will be signed up to receive updates from the Arthur Cox Pensions Group on any developments relating to the rollout of auto-enrolment by the Irish government over the course of this year. This page will be updated as more detail becomes available.

In addition to the above specialist services, as market leader in the corporate legal services sector in Ireland, we advise our clients on all corporate and commercial issues, banking and financial transactions and any tax and property matters that may arise.

The Group acts for a wide range of pension schemes from large industry-wide schemes to small individual customised arrangements. We also act for schemes of some of the major employers in Ireland and acts for a number of commercial State and public sector schemes.

Relevant Experience

Advising a leading major financial institution on all aspects of a significant rationalisation of their pension arrangements
Advising a major institution on their pension scheme benefits and the possible switching from a defined benefit to defined contribution structure
Advising on the pension aspects of all the major Irish corporate transactions over the last number of years
Ongoing involvement in a number of major litigation matters regarding pension scheme administration

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Endorsements

“The team has deep expertise in the law, its interpretation and most importantly what would best work in a client’s context, enabling them to give practical insights.”

Chambers Europe, 2025

“The Arthur Cox team offers extensive knowledge of pensions and applies a very pragmatic approach to issues which results in clear and sensible advice.”

Chambers Europe, 2025

“There is a wealth of knowledge and experience in the department that results in a very strong commercially aware team.”

Chambers Europe, 2025