Minister emphasises importance of Wage Subsidy Scheme
Employers have been urged to avail of Wage Subsidy Scheme to retain workers as the economic impacts of COVID-19 restrictions loom large. The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys, issued encouragement to employers to avail of the Government’s Wage Subsidy Scheme.
The scheme is targeted at retaining employees and re-employing employees in instances where they have recently been laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday afternoon the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation was part of the government team that gave details of the raft of measures to deal with the pandemic. Today Minister Humphreys noted the “unprecedented challenges” posed by the pandemic and said they require “practical, flexible and innovative solutions”.
“We have introduced this new Wage Subsidy Scheme, which supports employers to retain as many workers as possible by giving support to wage costs,” the Minister said, “It’s important to bear in mind that if you have recently laid off workers, you can still avail of the Scheme by re-employing them, which will allow you to plan ahead with more surety.”
The Scheme will be available to employers who keep employees on the payroll through the current Covid-related trading difficulties, meaning employers can retain links with employees for when business picks up after the crisis. Under the terms of the Scheme employers will be refunded up to 70 percent of an employee's wages - up to a level of €410.
Minister Humphreys emphasised the need to make plans for the future: “The employer-employee relationship is vital for business success and the purpose of the Scheme is to maintain this relationship. It will also ensure that when we get through the worst of the pandemic, businesses will be best placed to return to normality and kickstart the economy once again.”
The Scheme is confined to employees who were on the employer’s payroll as of February 29, 2020 and full details can be viewed at Revenue Wage Subsidy Scheme.