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

Time spent on JobBridge or the Work Placement Programme is also reckonable for eligibility purposes. You can employ an eligible person directly from either of these schemes once the required 156 days criteria has been satisfied.

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.