The formula
| Element | Rule |
|---|---|
| Per year of service | 2 weeks’ gross pay |
| Bonus | 1 extra week, once |
| Weekly pay cap | €600 (€31,200 a year). Earn more and the calculation still uses €600 |
| Part years | Counted pro rata: 5 years and 6 months is 5.5 years, so 11 weeks plus 1 |
| Minimum service | 104 weeks (2 years) continuous |
| Tax | None. Exempt from income tax, USC and PRSI |
Ten years at €700 a week: 21 weeks at the €600 cap, €12,600. Ten years at €450 a week: 21 weeks at €450, €9,450. The calculator does the arithmetic with part years and the cap; the table by years shows every whole year from 2 to 30.
Who qualifies
- You are an employee (not self-employed) aged 16 or over, in employment that is insurable under the Social Welfare Acts. Almost every PAYE job is.
- You have at least 104 weeks of continuous service with the employer. Day one to day 730, roughly.
- The dismissal is a genuine redundancy: the business closes or moves, fewer staff are needed, the work is being done differently or by fewer people, or the work no longer exists. If you were replaced by someone doing the same job, it is not a redundancy and the rights page covers what to do.
- Part-time, fixed-term and agency staff qualify on the same terms once they have the service. A fixed-term contract that simply ends is not a redundancy unless the work itself has gone.
You do not have to be unemployed afterwards to receive it, and lining up a new job during notice changes nothing. Leaving before the notice period ends is different: get the employer’s written agreement first, because walking out early without it can cost you the payment.
How your weekly pay is counted
Pay means gross pay before tax and PRSI. It includes your normal weekly wage, average regular overtime and the value of benefits-in-kind. Monthly pay is divided by 4.33 to get a weekly figure.
- Irregular hours or pay: the average of the last 52 weeks worked is used.
- Overtime: the 13 weeks before the redundancy date are ignored; the 26 weeks before that are totalled and divided by 26, and that average is added to normal pay.
- Below minimum wage: the calculation is based on the minimum wage instead, except for statutory apprentices and under-20s.
- Reduced hours: if you are made redundant within a year of being put on short time, the full week’s pay is used. After more than a year on reduced hours, it depends on whether you accepted the reduced week as normal or kept asking to go back full-time.
How your service is counted
Reckonable service is the time that counts. Everything counts except a short list of absences in the last three years before the job ends; anything older than three years is never deducted.
| Counts as service | Deducted (last 3 years only) |
|---|---|
| Time at work, holidays, agreed career breaks | Sick leave beyond 26 consecutive weeks |
| Sick leave up to 26 weeks; work injury up to 52 weeks | Absence after a work injury beyond 52 consecutive weeks |
| Maternity, adoptive, paternity, parental, parent’s and carer’s leave | Time on strike |
| Lock-outs and any period protected under the Unfair Dismissals Acts | Lay-off, including pandemic lay-off (a separate tax-free payment of up to €2,268 covered service lost to COVID lay-offs for redundancies up to 31 January 2025) |
Who pays, and when
Your employer pays the lump sum when the employment ends, normally on the last day of notice or the next pay day, together with a written statement showing how it was worked out. Keep that statement and the proof of payment. When the employer pays you directly there is no longer any form to file with the State (the old RP50 is gone).
If the employer cannot pay, or is insolvent, the Department of Social Protection pays you from the Social Insurance Fund and pursues the employer for the money. The claim is made through the redundancy payments section of the Department (gov.ie, Redundancy Payments Scheme), normally with the employer’s cooperation or, if the company has gone into liquidation, through the liquidator.
If the employer will not pay
- Write to the employer asking for the payment and state the figure. Use form RP77 (available from gov.ie) as the formal request.
- If there is no payment or the employer disputes that it is a redundancy, bring a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission using the online complaint form. The time limit is one year from the date of dismissal.
- If the employer has no money, apply to the Social Insurance Fund as above. Do not let the one-year WRC limit pass while you wait on an employer who is stalling.
Statutory payment versus a redundancy package
The statutory payment is the floor. A redundancy package is the statutory amount plus whatever the employer adds on top, and the top-up is where the money and the negotiation are. Common top-ups run at a further two to four weeks per year of service, sometimes without the €600 cap. The top-up is taxable in principle but the basic exemption (€10,160 plus €765 per year), the increased exemption or SCSB usually shelters most of it; the tax page and the lump sum calculator work it out.
Two things are owed on top of both and are not part of the redundancy figure: your statutory or contractual notice (or pay in lieu of it) and any untaken annual leave.
Frequently asked questions
What is the statutory redundancy payment in Ireland?
The minimum lump sum an employer must pay when a job is made redundant: two weeks' gross pay for every year of service plus one extra week, with weekly pay capped at €600. It is tax-free and you qualify after 104 weeks (two years) of continuous service.
Who qualifies for statutory redundancy in Ireland?
Employees aged 16 or over with at least 104 weeks of continuous service in insurable employment, whose job ends because the employer closes, moves, cuts staff or no longer needs that work done. Part-time and fixed-term staff qualify on the same terms.
Is the statutory redundancy payment taxed?
No. The statutory amount is exempt from income tax, USC and PRSI. Only an extra ex-gratia payment from your employer can be taxed, and most of that is sheltered by the basic exemption of €10,160 plus €765 per year of service.
Who pays statutory redundancy?
Your employer, on or around your last day. If the employer cannot pay or is insolvent, the Department of Social Protection pays it from the Social Insurance Fund and recovers the money from the employer later.
What is the difference between statutory redundancy and a redundancy package?
Statutory is the legal minimum, fixed by formula. A package is statutory plus whatever the employer adds: an ex-gratia top-up (often a further two to four weeks per year), pay in lieu of notice, holiday pay. Only the top-up is negotiable.
Sources: citizensinformation.ie “How much redundancy pay will I get?” and “Redundancy payments scheme”, gov.ie Redundancy Payments Scheme, Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2022. Figures checked 3 September 2026.