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Social worker salary in Ireland

Social work in the public health service runs across four graded scales, from basic grade up to principal. This page has every point of all four, and shows where a promotion actually pays and where it does not.

The short answer

A newly qualified social worker starts on €51,127 a year. After 12 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €73,811. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€51,127
about €3,328 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€73,811
about €4,271 a month take-home

Figures from Department of Health Circular 2/2026, effective 1 June 2026. Take-home is for a single person with standard credits, after income tax, USC, PRSI and ASC.

What point of the scale am I on?

This is where most salary pages get it wrong. Your point is not always the same as your years of service, because one of the two scales carries incremental skips. Pick your situation:

You are on point 1
€51,127

The full pay scale, every point

Social Worker (basic grade)

Nine ordinary points then a long service increment. The same scale covers Social Worker, Social Worker (Medical) and Psychiatric Social Worker on identical figures.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€51,127€39,930€3,328
2€54,510€41,649€3,471
3€56,321€42,569€3,547
4€58,972€43,915€3,660
5€61,647€45,273€3,773
6€64,339€46,638€3,886
7€67,028€48,001€4,000
8€69,715€49,363€4,114
9€72,407€50,610€4,217
LSI€73,811€51,252€4,271

Take-home assumes a single person with the personal and employee tax credits, no other income, and ASC at Single Public Service Pension Scheme rates. Your main superannuation contribution is deducted separately and depends on your scheme.

Senior Social Work Practitioner

Seven ordinary points then a long service increment. It starts below the top of the basic grade scale, so the two overlap substantially.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€62,675€45,794€3,816
2€65,431€47,191€3,933
3€68,224€48,607€4,051
4€71,008€49,971€4,164
5€73,784€51,239€4,270
6€76,550€52,503€4,375
7€79,313€53,766€4,480
LSI€80,716€54,407€4,534

Long service increments in the source document are marked only by being printed in bold. We identified them from the font used rather than by counting points, because a mistake there would change how long each scale takes to climb.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the social worker scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 12 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€51,127
Year 2Point 2€54,510
Year 3Point 3€56,321
Year 4Point 4€58,972
Year 5Point 5€61,647
Year 6Point 6€64,339
Year 7Point 7€67,028
Year 8Point 8€69,715
Year 9Point 9€72,407
Year 12Long Service Increment€73,811

Progression is automatic on your incremental date as long as your service is satisfactory. Time spent on a career break or otherwise out of service pushes your incremental date back. The Long Service Increment is not an annual increment: it is paid only after 3 years of satisfactory service at the maximum of the scale, which is why it appears 3 years after the last point rather than the year after it.

What comes off your salary

Four deductions apply before your pay reaches your account, and one of them is specific to the public service.

Income tax, USC and PRSI

The same as any employee. Income tax at 20% up to €44,000 for a single person and 40% above, USC in bands from 0.5% to 8%, and PRSI at 4.2%.

ASC, the public service extra

The Additional Superannuation Contribution. Nothing on the first €34,500, then 3.33% to €60,000 and 3.5% above for Single Scheme members. Pre-2013 scheme members pay 10% and 10.5% on the same bands. It reduces your income tax but not your USC or PRSI.

One thing to be aware of: the take-home figures on this page include ASC but not your main superannuation contribution, which is charged separately and depends on which pension scheme you joined. Your actual net pay will be somewhat lower. We show ASC because its rates are published and identical for everyone, while the main contribution varies.

Questions people ask most

How much does a social worker earn in Ireland?
A basic grade social worker starts on €51,127 and reaches €72,407 at the top of the ordinary scale, with a long service increment of €73,811. A Senior Practitioner runs from €62,675 to €80,716, a Team Leader from €72,407 to €83,520, and a Principal Social Worker from €81,913 to €100,486. Figures are from the Health Sector Consolidated Salary Scales effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a social worker in Ireland?
€51,127 a year at point 1 of the basic grade scale. That is one of the higher graduate entry points in the health service: a staff nurse starts on €38,166 and a staff grade physiotherapist on €45,514.
How long does it take to reach the top of the social work scale?
9 years to reach the top ordinary point of €72,407, with the long service increment following after 3 further years, so €73,811 arrives after 12 years. The early increments are large: the step from point 1 to point 2 alone is €3,383.
Is it worth becoming a Senior Social Work Practitioner?
It depends entirely on where you are when you move. The Senior Practitioner scale starts at €62,675, which is below the basic grade's seventh point of €67,028, so a social worker well up the basic scale can be promoted onto a lower number. What changes is the ceiling: €80,716 against €73,811.
What is the difference between a Team Leader and a Senior Practitioner?
Team Leader starts higher, at €72,407 against €62,675, and the two scales finish close together at €83,520 and €80,716. Team Leader is the management route and Senior Practitioner the practice route. Senior Medical Social Worker is paid on the same scale as Team Leader.
How much does a principal social worker earn?
Between €81,913 and €100,486 across six points. This scale has the biggest steps in social work, averaging about €3,715 each, and it is the only social work grade that passes six figures.
Do medical and psychiatric social workers earn the same?
At basic grade, yes. The Consolidated Salary Scales list Social Worker, Social Worker (Medical) and Psychiatric Social Worker on identical figures, €51,127 to €73,811. The grades diverge higher up, where Senior Medical Social Worker sits on the Team Leader scale.
How much ASC does a social worker pay?
The Additional Superannuation Contribution charges nothing on the first €34,500 of pensionable pay. On the starting salary of €51,127 it applies to about €16,600, at 3.33% for a Single Public Service Pension Scheme member. From around the fifth point of the basic scale part of the salary passes €60,000 and attracts the 3.5% rate.
Is social worker pay the same across Ireland?
Yes in the public health service. The Consolidated Salary Scales are national and apply in HSE and Section 38 employers alike, so the same point pays the same everywhere with no Dublin weighting. Social workers employed by Tusla and by voluntary bodies are generally aligned to these scales too.
When do HSE salaries increase next?
These rates come from the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which applied a 1% increase on 1 June 2026. That agreement is in its final year, so the next rates depend on the agreement that succeeds it. We update this page when new consolidated scales are published.

Where these figures come from

Every euro figure on this page is taken from the official circulars below, not from salary surveys or crowd-sourced averages. Last checked 2026-08-14.

More public sector pay:

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