Statutory redundancy in Ireland: who qualifies and how much you get

The legal minimum an employer must pay when your job goes, how the €600 weekly cap works, your notice rights, and what happens if your employer cannot pay.

Statutory redundancy pay counts no more than €600 a week of your wages, however much you earn. So after 10 years in a job, the legal minimum is €12,600. It is tax-free, and some employers pay more.

Who qualifies

Redundancy is when your job stops existing and nobody is hired to replace you. To get statutory redundancy pay, the minimum set by law, you must meet four tests.

• You are 16 or over
• You have 104 weeks (2 years) of continuous service with the same employer
• Your job was fully insurable, which usually means you paid Class A PRSI
• Your job no longer exists

If you are laid off or put on short time for 4 weeks or more, you can give notice that you intend to claim redundancy. You use form RP9 to do this.

The formula: two weeks a year, plus one

You get two weeks' gross pay for every year of service, plus one extra week, called the bonus week. Gross pay means before tax and PRSI. It includes your normal pay, average regular overtime and benefits-in-kind, meaning perks that are not paid in cash.

If you are paid monthly, your monthly pay is divided by 4.33 to get a weekly figure. If your pay varies, the average of your last 52 weeks is used. The €600 cap also applies to the bonus week.

Time on holidays, maternity, paternity, parental and other agreed leave counts as service. In your last three years, strikes and lay-offs do not. Sick leave counts, but in those three years not beyond 26 weeks in a row.

Your notice rights

Your employer must give you notice in writing, with a date your job ends. The notice period only starts when you get that written notice, not when you are told you are at risk.

Your employer can pay you for the notice period instead of having you work it. If you find a new job during your notice, you can ask to leave early using form RP6. Your employer does not have to agree.

Tax on your lump sum

Statutory redundancy pay is tax-free. Many employers add an extra payment, often called ex gratia. Part of that can be tax-free too.

There is a lifetime limit of €200,000 on these tax-free amounts. A payment set out in your employment contract is taxed in full. Budget 2027 made no change to redundancy pay or these exemptions.

When many jobs go at once

A collective redundancy is when a set number of jobs go within 30 days in a workplace of more than 20 people. The trigger depends on size.

• 21 to 49 staff: 5 or more redundancies
• 50 to 99 staff: 10 or more
• 100 to 299 staff: 10% or more
• 300 or more staff: 30 or more

The employer must consult staff representatives at least 30 days before the first notice. It must also tell the Minister, and wait at least 30 days after that before anyone is let go. Breaking the 30-day rule can lead to a fine of up to €250,000.

If your employer cannot pay

If your employer cannot afford the lump sum, the Department of Social Protection can pay it from the Social Insurance Fund. It then chases the employer for the money. Either your employer signs the form and proves it cannot pay, or a WRC decision confirms you are owed it.

If the business has formally gone bust, the Insolvency Payments Scheme covers other money you are owed. That includes unpaid wages, holiday pay, sick pay under your contract, minimum notice, most WRC awards and some pension contributions.

The money must have been due in the 18 months before the insolvency or the end of your job. Since 8 June 2026, you can also apply if your employer simply stopped trading without a liquidator.

Complaints and time limits

1. Ask your employer, in writing, for your lump sum and a written statement of how it was worked out.
2. If it is not paid, apply to your employer using form RP77.
3. If your employer still refuses or disputes it, complain to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) online.
4. Do this within one year of your job ending. The WRC can extend this to two years in exceptional cases.
5. If the WRC finds in your favour and you are still not paid, apply to the Department directly.

If you think you were unfairly picked for redundancy, or the redundancy was not real, that is an unfair dismissal complaint. It must reach the WRC within 6 months of your dismissal, or 12 months if reasonable circumstances stopped you.