Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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47. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a forecast of the lockdown levels that will apply from January to June 2021 given that businesses have to forecast whether or not they will experience a drop in turnover of 30% from January to June 2021 in order to qualify for the employment wage subsidy scheme; if he is unable to provide this forecast, if he will modify the qualifying criteria for the scheme that will apply for essential retail businesses to a monthly forecast in reduction in turnover; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1989/21]

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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48. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will allow essential retail businesses to retrospectively apply for the employment wage subsidy scheme if their turnover drops by more than 30% between January and June 2021, even though the business owner had not forecast such a drop in turnover due to the fact that they are unable to accurately forecast lockdown levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1990/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 47 and 48 together.

The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) is a demand led economy-wide scheme that focuses primarily on business eligibility, delivering a per-head subsidy on a flat rate basis to the employer.  The level of uptake is contingent on whether an employer meets the eligibility criteria and also on whether they decide to avail of the scheme. 

I would like to assure the Deputy that the EWSS is sufficiently flexible to take account of the changes to the economic conditions that have arisen from the additional public health restrictions, and which may arise again in the future, depending on the prevailing public health advice and the decisions of the Government.

This is because the EWSS “turnover test” has been specifically designed so as to target the subsidy at otherwise viable employers whose businesses continue to be adversely impacted by COVID-19 by requiring a comparison of the firm’s pre-pandemic operations with their current operations.   This is the approach that the scheme has been applied since July 2020 and which, to date, has supported over 40,000 employers in respect of over 446,000 workers. 

The legislation provides that the employer must be able to demonstrate that they are operating at no more than 70% in either the turnover of the employer’s business or the customer orders received by the employer in Q1 and Q2 2021 compared with the same period in 2019.  There is additional flexibility in the application of the turnover test to allow employers to take account of potentially sudden changes in turnover on a month-to-month “opt-in/opt-out” basis.  Under the legislation, an employer is required to carry out a review of their turnover each month and confirm that they are still eligible for the scheme.  At the same time, there is no cut-off deadline for access to the scheme, so if there is a reduction in turnover because of an unexpected reduction in business activity or a sudden change in business circumstances the employer may be entitled to make a claim for that future period. 

Flexibility has also been introduced to the rates of subsidy and on the 6th of January I announced that the current rates of subsidy provided by the EWSS are to remain in place until 31 March 2021, aligned with the extension of the rates of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).

I am therefore satisfied that the design of the EWSS fully takes account of the changing environment around living with the COVID-19 pandemic, in line with the Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19.

For those businesses who may need additional support, I would draw attention to the comprehensive package of other business and employer supports that have been made available since the July Stimulus Plan and Budget 2021, including the Covid Restriction Support Scheme (CRSS), the Credit Guarantee Scheme, the SBCI Working Capital Scheme, Sustaining Enterprise Fund, and the Covid-19 Business Loans Scheme.