What is the Employer COVID-19 Refund Scheme?
Employer COVID-19 Refund Scheme is for employers, who continue to pay workers a minimum of €203.00 in the event of business closure; for more info Click HERE
The Government is encouraging employers to retain employees where possible. To support this, the Department is setting up a refund scheme for employers who pay staff. This scheme will repay employers the €203 per week for each worker who would otherwise have been laid off in a situation where a business has to cease trading due to HSE advice on ‘social distancing’.
This means that workers retain their link with employers and there is no need for them personally to submit a jobseeker’s claim. Refunds will take some time to process but in the meantime the Banks will provide working capital finance in the form of overdrafts or short term loans to cover costs.
HABIC staff are working extremely hard to ensure that SME’s gain the support they require in a timely manner. Once we have details on this COVID-19 Refund scheme and the process, we will update our members.
If you are going to make a payment of €203.00 for each employee, please advise your employees that they do not need to join the live register.
The option outlined above may not be possible for many micro SME’s with limited cashflow, therefore temporary lay-off may be the only option available. If this is the case, please see the most up to date information available below from the Department of Employment Affairs & Social Protection.