State to subsidise 70% of wages

The Government will help businesses financially affected by the coronavirus crisis by paying 70% of the wages of workers up to a maximum of €410 per week.

All Irish businesses are eligible to access the scheme and to do so they would need to prove they have suffered a decrease in income of 25 per cent and that they have cash flow difficulties.

If you have workers earning between €38,000 and €76,000 who you will struggle to pay, they will be entitled to assistance. Any workers earning above €76,000 will be excluded from the scheme.

The scheme will be run by Revenue . It will initially run for 12 weeks but will be extended by the Government if it considers this necessary. As of today, we await further guidelines from the Revenue Commissioners on how to apply and administer this scheme- we expect this asap. For now however, employers can now look at their payroll costs for the coming months and using the above figures begin to make plans around staffing; bringing a measure of relief.

Next Steps

Speak to your accountant to discuss the actions you should be taking to safeguard your workforce.

Published 24/03/2020

Date published 24 Mar 2020

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