Personal Retirement Savings Accounts are a type of portable pension fund which can follow an individual throughout their career. PRSA holders can, in certain circumstances, request contributions to it from their salary via payroll deduction, and employers may pay contributions to the PRSA (but are not obliged to do so).

A Standard PRSA is subject to maximum charges of 1% of asset value and/or 5% of contributions. The Non-Standard PRSA is not subject to any maximum charge – the fee can be whatever amount is agreed – and is, as a result,  a more sophisticated product in terms of investment advice and services.

The first PRSAs were approved in February 2003.  Employers are obliged to offer some form of pension access to all employees.  As an employer you must set up a Standard PRSA if you do not currently have an occupational pension scheme for your employees, or there is any restriction on eligibility to join the scheme (other than those subject to a six-month or shorter waiting period). This Standard PRSA is open to any employees who do not have access to an occupational pension scheme.

This includes those employees who are not yet eligible to join the scheme, but will become so if they remain in service (aside from those just affected by a six-month waiting period mentioned above). Instead of establishing a Standard PRSA to run alongside an existing occupational scheme, employers can decide to alter the eligibility requirements of the occupational scheme to allow general access.