Subsidy rates for the Government’s Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) are to be cut further from today.
The changes will mean that all rates will be reduced to €100 per employee from now until 30 April.
At that point the EWSS will end completely.
However, those businesses who were directly impacted by the restrictions announced by the Government on 20 December will see their rates cut to €203.
The only exception to this is for employees in the €151.50 to €202.99 weekly wage bracket who will have their subsidy cut to €151.50.
Also today, the full rate of employer’s PRSI will be reinstated for all businesses.
Until now, a reduced rate of employer’s PRSI of 0.5% had applied to wages eligible for the subsidy.
As of last Thursday, there were still 22,500 employers registered for the EWSS, 18,300 of which had made a claim during the month for their 219,600 employees.
In total they had so far received payments worth €156.2m, with the PRSI forgone totalling €30.7m.
Over €6.5bn has been spent by the Government so far on the EWSS.
The accommodation and food services sector has been the biggest recipient of the EWSS since it was introduced, having received €1.849bn in supports.
The next biggest recipient has been the wholesale and retail trade, which has drawn down €795m.
Article Source – Wage support rates to be reduced further from today – RTE – Will Goodbody