Part-time work and PRSI

I work part-time in a local restaurant from Thursday to Saturday. The number of shifts I work can vary depending on the time of year. How does this part-time arrangement affect my social insurance (PRSI) contributions? The number of social insurance contributions you make can affect your eligibility for the range of social insurance benefits that are available. It is called Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) because the amount of social insurance you pay depends on your earnings and the type of work you do.

In general, you pay a PRSI contribution in respect of each PRSI contribution week in which you work. The PRSI contribution week starts on the first day of January every year. Because this may fall on any day of the week, the PRSI contribution week may differ from the working week. You must be working on at least one day in each PRSI contribution week in order to pay a contribution.

In 2017, the first of January fell on a Sunday. This means that each PRSI contribution week this year runs from Sunday to Saturday.

As your part-time work arrangement requires that you work part of every week between Sunday and Saturday, you will have your full 52 PRSI contributions for 2017. Even if, due to the seasonal nature of your work, your working days were reduced to one or two of those days per week, you would still have your full contributions.

However, if your work pattern was to change to the same days for one week on, one week off, you would only get 26 weeks of contributions in 2017.

Further information is available from the Citizens Information Centre below.