Redundancy in Ireland

You're entitled to a statutory redundancy payment if you have at least 104 weeks' continuous service with your employer since you turned 16, your job was insurable for all PRSI benefits (normally Class A), and your job has genuinely gone. There is no upper age limit.

It is 2 weeks' pay for every year of service, plus 1 bonus week. Part-years count in proportion: 23 years and 40 days is 23.11 years, or 47.22 weeks' pay. Weekly pay includes regular overtime and benefit-in-kind but is capped at €600 (€31,200 a year), and the whole payment is tax-free.

Your employer must give you at least 2 weeks' written notice of the redundancy, or your statutory minimum notice if that is longer. Notice only starts once you have a written finishing date; being told you are "at risk" doesn't count.

• If you are laid off or put on short time for 4 or more weeks in a row (or 6 weeks within 13), you may be able to claim redundancy yourself using form RP9. Doing so counts as leaving voluntarily, so you lose minimum notice pay.
• If your employer can't pay, the Department of Social Protection pays statutory redundancy from the Social Insurance Fund and pursues the employer. Call 0818 111 112 (option 4).
• Since June 2026, a Deemed Insolvent Process lets you claim unpaid wages or holiday pay from the State when an employer simply stops trading.

Many employers pay more than statutory, often quoted as a number of weeks' pay per year of service, either "inclusive of statutory" or "on top of statutory". Enhanced payments usually use your full salary, without the €600 cap.

An enhanced (ex-gratia) payment normally comes with a severance agreement in which you give up the right to bring claims. Employers commonly contribute towards independent legal advice before you sign. Don't sign until you have had that advice and you are sure the figures are right.

• Ask for the calculation in writing, line by line: statutory, ex-gratia, notice, holiday pay and any bonus.
• Ask whether bonus, commission, allowances and pension contributions are included, and what happens to unvested shares.
• Ask whether you can leave early for a new job without losing the package.
• See our questions to ask your employer.

The Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts set your minimum notice: 1 week (13 weeks to 2 years' service), 2 weeks (2–5 years), 4 weeks (5–10), 6 weeks (10–15) and 8 weeks (15+). Your contract can give you more, never less.

You are entitled to reasonable paid time off to look for work or arrange training in the last 2 weeks of your notice. Your employer can pay you in lieu of notice by agreement; that payment is taxed as normal pay.

Statutory redundancy is completely tax-free. An ex-gratia (enhanced) payment is tax-free up to the highest of these exemptions:

• Basic Exemption: €10,160 plus €765 for each complete year of service.
• Increased Exemption: up to €10,000 more, if you haven't claimed relief above the basic exemption in the last 10 years and you give up any tax-free lump sum from your employer's pension scheme (otherwise it is reduced by that lump sum).
• SCSB (Standard Capital Superannuation Benefit): your average yearly pay over the last 3 years × complete years of service ÷ 15, less any tax-free pension lump sum. Often best for long service on higher pay.

If you lose your job outright, you now claim Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit (JPRB) rather than the old flat-rate Jobseeker's Benefit. It depends on your PRSI record and past earnings, not your savings, so your redundancy money doesn't reduce it.

With 5+ years of PRSI (260 paid contributions) you get 60% of your average weekly earnings for the first 13 weeks (max €450), 55% for the next 13 (max €375) and 50% for the final 13 (max €300): 39 weeks in total. With 2 to 5 years (104–259 contributions) you get 50%, max €300, for 26 weeks. The minimum is €125 a week.

• Apply on MyWelfare.ie from your first day out of work, and within 6 weeks. Late claims need good cause to be backdated, and can fail the contribution test entirely.
• It is paid from the first Monday after you become unemployed. There are no unpaid waiting days, but you can't be paid for days covered by holiday pay.
• There are no increases for a partner or children. If you have dependants, Jobseeker's Allowance may pay more, and you can choose it instead.
• Your earnings are averaged over the 52 weeks ending 8 weeks before you lost your job. Any jobseeker's payment you have claimed since 31 March 2025 counts towards the 26 or 39 weeks.
• JPRB is taxable, so Revenue reduces your tax credits to collect it. You can claim a tax refund 8 weeks after you stop work.
• When it ends, Jobseeker's Allowance is means-tested: the first €20,000 of savings is ignored, then savings reduce it.

A redundancy must be genuine and the selection fair. With at least 12 months' continuous service you can bring an unfair dismissal complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), for example if selection criteria were applied unfairly or your job didn't really disappear.

You must complain within 6 months of your dismissal date, extendable to 12 months only for reasonable cause. For unfair dismissal, that date is when your notice would have ended, even if you were paid in lieu. Claims for an unpaid statutory redundancy payment have a longer limit: 52 weeks, extendable to 104.

• Occupational pension: with 2+ years' qualifying service you keep a preserved benefit or can transfer it (for example to a Personal Retirement Bond or PRSA). Under 2 years, the scheme may refund your own contributions, taxed at 20%.
• MyFutureFund (auto-enrolment): contributions stop when your pay stops. The fund stays invested until you are 66.
• Health insurance: a gap of up to 13 weeks doesn't count against you. Longer gaps can mean a Lifetime Community Rating loading later if you are over 34, though credits exist for people who drop cover because of redundancy.
• Shares and bonus: ask exactly what happens to unvested shares, options and any bonus for the part-year you worked.
• Mortgage or loans: talk to your lender early. MABS offers free, confidential money advice.