Employer Job (PRSI) Incentive Scheme

Rules

To qualify for the Employer Job (PRSI) Incentive Scheme both the job you create and the person you employ must meet certain criteria. While you are waiting to be approved for the scheme, you should operate the standard employee and employer PRSI.

The person you employ must have been getting one of the following social welfare payments for a period of at least 6 months (156 days):

• Jobseeker's Benefit
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• One-Parent Family Payment
• Disability Allowance

You can also employ an eligible person directly from JobBridge or the Work Placement Programme once the required 156 days criteria has been satisfied.

Time spent on Community Employment, Rural Social Schemes, Tús, Back to Education Allowance and short FÁS training courses can count towards the 6 month qualifying period provided the person was getting one of the qualifying payments listed above immediately before starting the scheme or course and, before starting work, would qualify for one of the qualifying payments.

In addition, jobseekers payments paid in conjunction with periods of casual employment and breaks in jobseekers payments as a result of periods of illness during which Illness Benefit is paid may also count towards the qualifying period.

The job must:

• Be a new and additional post/job – employers are not allowed to substitute existing employees to avail of the scheme
• Be for at least 30 hours per week
• Last for at least 6 months. If the employment ends within 6 months of getting the exemption, you may be liable to pay the employer’s PRSI contributions for that employee.

Maximum participation rate

You can only get an exemption from employer’s PRSI for a limited number of employees. This limit is 5% of your existing workforce or, for smaller companies, a maximum of 5 new jobs.