State pays out €165m in lay-off rebates

The Government has paid out €165m in redundancy rebates and lump sum payments so far this year despite slashing the amount of money that companies can claim, from 60% of redundancy payments to 15%.

The Government has issued €86.6m in rebates and a further €78.4m in lump sum payments that are made to companies that cannot afford to make their redundancy payments.

A spokesperson for the Revenue Commissioners said that if a company complies with regulations and pays their redundancy they are entitled to a rebate.

“It is the responsibility of the employer to pay statutory redundancy to all eligible employees,” the spokesperson said.

“An employer who pays statutory redundancy payments to its employees is then entitled to a rebate of a portion of that payment from the State.”

This year there looks set to be an increase in the number of companies claiming an inability to pay their redundancy obligations.

As of the end of July there had already been €78.4m in lump sum payments issued to companies which had proven to the Revenue that they were unable to cover the costs of their statutory redundancy.

In the whole of 2011 the State only paid €97.8m in lump sum payment to cover the statutory redundancy payments.

Employers’ groups warned after last year’s budgets that some workers would not receive their statutory entitlement toredundancy payments if they went ahead with the cuts to the redundancy regime.

Separately, it was revealed that the Revenue Commissioners issued €147.8m in rebates to employees who were made redundant in 2009.

The Revenue Commissioners said that these were the most recent figures available for the amount of taxes returned to 77,000 employees who lost their jobs in 2009. It came in at more than €87m.