Skip to main content
Normal View

Redundancy Payments

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 February 2018

Tuesday, 20 February 2018

Questions (102)

Clare Daly

Question:

102. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to raise the ceiling on annual reckonable earnings to be taken into account in the calculation of statutory redundancy lump sum payments in view of the fact that there has been no increase since 1 January 2005. [8433/18]

View answer

Written answers

It is the employer’s responsibility to pay statutory redundancy and other wage related entitlements to all eligible employees. An eligible employee is entitled to two weeks statutory redundancy payment for every year of service, plus a bonus week. Compensation is based on the worker’s length of reckonable service and reckonable weekly remuneration, subject to a ceiling of €600 per week. In the event that an employer is unable to pay these entitlements due to financial difficulties, the Department can step in to make a payment from the Social Insurance Fund, as part of the redundancy and insolvency payments schemes. The ceiling limit has been reviewed and changed on a number of occasions and the limit was last increased in January 2005 from €507.90 to €600 per week following agreement between the social partners in the ‘Sustaining Progress’ talks during 2004.

An increase in the ceiling limit would result in an additional cost to employers and also to the Social Insurance Fund. Any consideration of an adjustment to the limit involves consultation with a number of Government Departments, the social partners and other relevant stakeholders and is subject to the approval of the Minister for Finance.

I have no plans to increase the ceiling limit at this time.

Top
Share