📋 Tender Overview
The Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has today Tuesday noted that the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme EWSS has now ceased for all businesses. A wage subsidy scheme the EWSS or its predecessor the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme TWSS has been in place for over 2 years since March 2020. These schemes have been a substantial and key part of the governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic and played a vital role in maintaining the important link between employers and employees.As part of Budget 2022 the government set out the future direction of EWSS including its graduated exit strategy. These arrangements were subsequently enhanced on a number of occasions in response to the prevailing public health restrictions.For most businesses the EWSS ceased on 30 April 2022 while those businesses that were directly impacted by the public health restrictions of late December 2021 saw a 1 month deferral in the step down arrangements. As such for the latter cohort of businesses mainly in the hospitality sector the scheme ended today.The total level of support provided to date by the wage subsidy schemes is unprecedented at over 10.66 billion 2.8 billion in respect of TWSS and 7.86 billion in relation to EWSS. This represents a substantial intervention by Government that assisted in mitigating the effects of the pandemic on the economy. The TWSS supported 67000 employers in respect of almost 690000 employees. The EWSS supported 51900 employers in respect of almost 744000 employees.Speaking today Minister Donohoe statedToday marks the end of the very successful Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme EWSS over 2 years after a wage subsidy scheme the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme TWSS was first introduced in March 2020. The wage subsidy schemes played a crucial role in preserving employment and incomes and supporting businesses at a very challenging time during the pandemic.The success of the schemes is clearly evident by the employments supported as well as how quickly our economy adapted and recovered following the lifting of public health restrictions.I signalled the end of the EWSS many months ago to give businesses sufficient time to plan and adapt as necessary and I expect that many businesses have seen a resumption in their levels of trade. To give further support and clarity I also recently announced an extension to the 9 per cent VAT rate for the tourism and hospitality industry for a further 6 months.
