The formula
2 weeks per year of service + 1 extra week
Redundancy is the one payment where people routinely accept less than they are owed, because the figure arrives in a letter at a moment when nobody feels like arguing. The calculation is fixed by law and you can check it yourself in ten minutes.
Quick facts
- The formula
- 2 weeks per year of service + 1 extra week
- Weekly pay cap
- €600 a week, or €31,200 a year
- Tax
- Tax-free
- Qualifying service
- 2 years, or 104 weeks
- Top-ups
- Not legally required unless your contract says so
The calculation
"You are entitled to get a minimum redundancy payment after you have 2 years' (104 weeks) service in your job."
Then the arithmetic is fixed: "Two weeks' pay for every year of service" plus "One additional week's pay".
There is a ceiling on the weekly figure used: "The maximum weekly amount used to calculate redundancy pay is €600 a week (or €31,200 a year), even if your pay is more per week." Above that salary, everybody is calculated on the same €600.
And the good news that surprises people: "The statutory redundancy payment is tax-free."
What counts as your weekly pay
This is where employers and employees most often disagree, and it is worth being precise.
"When calculating your redundancy payment, pay means your gross pay before tax and PRSI deductions." Gross, not net.
- "Your current normal weekly pay"
- "Average regular overtime" — and this one is regularly left out of employers' calculations
- "Benefits-in-kind"
- "If you are paid monthly, your normal monthly pay is divided by 4.33 to calculate the weekly pay." Not by four.
- "Where you do not have regular hours or regular pay, an average of the last 52 weeks worked is used."
- "If you were earning less than the minimum wage you may be entitled to payment based on the minimum wage."
How regular overtime is worked out
The method is deliberately odd, and it exists to stop an employer cutting your overtime in the run-up to letting you go.
You exclude overtime from the 13 weeks immediately before the redundancy date. You then total the overtime earned in the 26 weeks before that, extending further back for any week you did not work, and divide by 26.
That average is added to your normal weekly pay. If your employer's figure ignores overtime entirely, this is the paragraph to quote back.
Which absences count, and which do not
Length of service is called reckonable service, and "Some absences from work over the last 3 years are deducted from your reckonable service." Anything older than three years is not deducted at all.
Family leave is protected. "Any period of basic and additional maternity leave allowed under the legislation" counts, as does "Any period of basic adoptive, paternity, parental, parent's or carer's leave". So do holidays, agreed career breaks and lock-outs.
What is deducted is long absence: "Any period over 26 consecutive weeks where you were off work due to illness" and "Any period over 52 consecutive weeks where you were off work due to an injury at work", plus time on strike and time on lay-off.
Note the word consecutive. Repeated short illnesses are not the same thing as one long one.
Top-ups, and when you can insist
"Your employer is not legally obliged to pay anything on top of the normal statutory entitlements, that is, notice and statutory redundancy." Many employers do pay more, because it is the industry norm, but that is a choice.
It stops being a choice in three situations: "You may have a contractual right to a top-up payment if this is stated in your contract of employment, a collective agreement or from the custom and practice of their employer."
Custom and practice is the one people forget. If the company has topped up every redundancy for years, that pattern can create an entitlement. Dig out what colleagues received before you accept a bare statutory offer.
How to get your statutory redundancy pay
Check you have 2 years' service
You are owed statutory redundancy once you have 2 years (104 weeks) of service in the job.
Your employer pays when the job ends
Your employer should pay you the lump sum when your job ends, for example on your last day or next pay day.
Not paid? Write and ask for it
If your employer does not pay you, write to them and ask for the payment.
Use form RP77
If it is still not paid, apply to your employer for it using form RP77.
Employer can't pay? Apply to the State
If your employer cannot pay or is insolvent, you can get the payment from the Government's Social Insurance Fund.
Employer refuses? Go to the WRC
If your employer refuses to pay or there is a dispute, you can bring a claim to the Workplace Relations Commission.
Time limit: A claim to the Workplace Relations Commission must be made within one year of your dismissal.
Phone, forms and how long it takes
- DSP Redundancy and Insolvency Payments Unit (menu option 4)
- 0818 11 11 12
- WRC Information and Customer Service (Mon to Fri 9.30am to 4pm)
- +353 59 9178990
- DSP Redundancy Payments
- redundancypayments@welfare.ie
- If your employer refuses: WRC online complaint
- WRC e-complaint form
- Claim from your employer
- form RP77
- Time limit to claim from your employer
- Ask your employer in writing within one year of the date your job ended.
- Time limit for a WRC claim
- Claim to the WRC within one year of the job ending; it can extend this to 2 years in exceptional cases.
From the official pages (gov.ie, workplacerelations.ie, citizensinformation.ie), re-checked every night. Numbers and times can change, so check the official page before you send anything.
Common questions
How is statutory redundancy calculated in Ireland?
Two weeks' pay for every year of service, plus one additional week's pay. The weekly pay figure used is capped at €600, so anyone earning above roughly €31,200 a year is calculated on that ceiling.
Is redundancy pay taxed in Ireland?
Statutory redundancy is tax-free. If you get a larger lump sum as compensation for losing the job, part of that may also be tax-free, but the rules differ and pay in lieu of notice is treated separately.
Does overtime count towards redundancy pay?
Regular overtime does. It is averaged using the 26 weeks before the final 13 weeks of employment, which stops an employer reducing your overtime shortly before making you redundant. Employers' own calculations often leave it out.
Does maternity leave reduce my redundancy payment?
No. Maternity leave allowed under the legislation counts as reckonable service, as do adoptive, paternity, parental, parent's and carer's leave. What gets deducted is illness over 26 consecutive weeks, work injury over 52 consecutive weeks, strike periods and lay-off.
How many years do I need to qualify?
Two years, or 104 weeks, of service in the job.
Can I insist on more than statutory redundancy?
Only if you have a contractual right to it, through your contract, a collective agreement, or custom and practice at the employer. If every previous redundancy at the company was topped up, that pattern is worth raising before you accept a statutory-only offer.