What is the Benefit of Work Estimator

The benefit of work estimator will show you how working full-time or increasing your hours could change your take-home pay

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Factsheet

Fact checked by experts and reviewed by young people.

If you are starting a job or increasing your current work hours, the amount of money that you are currently receiving is likely to change. The Benefit of Work Estimator can help you to answer any questions you may have about this.

What is the Benefit of Work Estimator?

The Benefit of Work Estimator is a free service offered by the Department of Social Protection in Ireland. It aims to give you a clear idea of how certain social welfare supports will change when you are moving from unemployment into full-time work. If you are already working, you can use the estimator to calculate how working extra hours would affect your payment.

There are two different benefit of work estimator tools. The benefit of work estimator for jobseeker and one-parent family payments shows how starting work or increasing your hours at work could affect these payments. The benefit of work estimator for disability and illness payments shows how additional income from employment may affect your disability or illness payment.

You will be asked for the following information when using the tool:

What social welfare scheme you are claiming
How many children you have, if applicable
Whether you have a medical card
Your relationship status
Details about any work you are currently doing
Details about the potential job

The estimator will then calculate the actual take-home pay you will be earning after all the taxes and benefits you are eligible for have been factored in.

The information is presented in a clear and easy-to-read chart broken down by income source. The income you could receive if you start a new job or increase your current work hours is shown next to the total value of your current welfare payments. This allows you to easily compare the two.

The estimator is completely anonymous and does not require you to enter any follow-up or contact information.

Need more information?

We are here to answer your questions and talk through your options. Our online chat service is for 16 to 25 year olds and is available Monday to Friday, 4pm to 8pm. Chat to us now about your situation.