Redundancy Calculator Ireland

Who gets statutory redundancy

Statutory redundancy is the minimum your employer has to pay you by law when your job goes. You qualify if:

• you’ve worked for the same employer for at least 104 weeks (2 years) without a break
• your job no longer exists
• you’re over 16
• your job is fully insurable under the social welfare rules, which generally means you pay class A PRSI

Your employer can pay more than this, and many do. The statutory amount is the floor, not the ceiling, and anything extra is up to your contract or what your employer agrees.

How statutory redundancy is worked out

You get 2 weeks’ pay for every year of service, plus 1 extra week. Part years count: the Department of Social Protection works your service out in days, counting your first and last day, and turns it into years to two decimal places. The calculator does it the same way.

Your weekly pay is your normal gross weekly wage, before tax, including any regular overtime. If you’re paid monthly, divide by 4.33. If your pay changes from week to week, an average is used. Whatever you earn, the weekly pay is capped at €600, a limit set on 1 January 2005 and not changed since.

Here is one of the department’s own examples. Joe started on 27 January 1998 and was made redundant on 1 March 2021, on €600 a week. That’s 23 years and 40 days, or 23.11 years:

2 × 23.11 + 1 = 47.22 weeks × €600.00 = €28,332.00

What it comes to at the cap

For anyone earning €600 a week or more, before tax:

Time off that counts, and time off that doesn’t

Most time off still counts as service: maternity, paternity, parental, adoptive and parent’s leave, force majeure and domestic violence leave, carer’s leave up to 104 weeks, a career break, and sick leave up to six months at a time (up to a year for an injury or illness caused by work).

A few kinds of absence in your last 3 years don’t count, and come off your service:

• temporary lay-off
• strike
• sick leave of more than 26 weeks for ordinary illness
• more than 52 weeks off for an injury or illness caused by work

If you had any of these, add up the days and put them in the calculator. Work you did before you turned 16 doesn’t count either, so if you started that young, use your 16th birthday as your start date.

Tax on redundancy

Statutory redundancy is tax-free. No income tax, USC or PRSI comes off it.

Anything your employer pays on top (an ex gratia or enhanced payment) gets its own tax-free allowance. Of the three allowances below, you get whichever is highest that you qualify for:

SCSB stands for Standard Capital Superannuation Benefit. Say you earned €52,000 a year for the last 3 years and have 20 complete years of service, with no pension lump sum coming:

€52,000 × 20 ÷ 15 = €69,333.33, against a basic exemption of €25,460

The calculator works SCSB out on the pay you type in, as if it had been the same for the last 3 years. If you had bonuses or benefits in kind, they count too, so your real figure may be higher.

Only complete years count for these allowances: 35 years and 10 months is 35 years. There is a lifetime limit of €200,000 on the lot. Anything above your allowance is taxed through payroll like normal pay, with USC but no PRSI. Revenue’s lump sum pages go through the detail.

If your employer can’t or won’t pay

Ask your employer for the payment in writing, so there’s a record. You have one year from your last day to do this. If the company has gone into liquidation, ask the liquidator.

• Your employer can’t pay. They can apply to the Department of Social Protection, which pays you from the Social Insurance Fund and then chases the employer for the money.
• Your employer won’t pay, or disputes it. Make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission using its online complaint form, usually within a year of your last day (two in exceptional cases). If the WRC finds in your favour and you still aren’t paid, you can apply to the department directly, without your employer’s signature. Email redundancypayments@welfare.ie for the form.

You’re also owed notice before your job ends: 2 weeks once you’ve 2 years of service, rising to 8 weeks after 15 years. Your employer can pay you instead of giving notice.

Where these figures come from

The rules and the €600 cap are from gov.ie (Department of Social Protection), and the calculator matches every one of the department’s worked examples to the cent. The tax allowances are from Revenue. All of it was checked on 3 October 2026. Tax allowances can change on Budget day, so if you’re reading this after a Budget, check Revenue too.

This is a guide to work out roughly what you’re owed, not legal or financial advice. For your exact figure, ask your employer or use the department’s calculator on MyWelfare. If you’re not sure about the tax on a big payment, an accountant is worth the fee.