Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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229. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of applications for the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, from its inception to date; the number of applications that have been refused during the same period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10539/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) was legislated for under the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Act 2020.

Since the scheme commenced, 51,988 employers have registered and payroll submissions have been filed in respect of 727,662 eligible employees. Subsidy payments totalling €6.5 billion and PRSI credits totalling €1 billion have been processed to date.

The scheme is currently open to employers who file their payroll submissions electronically through Revenue Online Service (ROS) and who were registered at, and had correctly received a valid subsidy by 31 December 2021, or who re-entered the scheme from 1 January 2022.

The administration of the EWSS is placed under the care and management of Revenue. From the commencement of the scheme up to 31 December 2021, employers had the facility to register themselves for the scheme online using ROS. There was no “applicant” stage in the process for employers registering online up to this date. As the scheme was operated on a “self-assessment” basis, with employers signing a declaration stating that their business qualified for the scheme, proof of eligibility for the scheme was not requested at registration stage. In signing the declaration, employers agreed to abide by the terms and conditions of the scheme and undertook to retain all records relating to the scheme, including the basis of eligibility, for review by Revenue at a later stage. For July to December 2021, employers provided to Revenue details of their eligibility reviews on a monthly ERF (Eligibility Review Form) filed through ROS. Subsidy payments were held and not paid to those employers who breached the 30% threshold test or did not file an ERF within prescribed timelines for pay dates after 1 July. As at 21 February 2022, €63.8m is being held by Revenue for threshold breaches or non-filing of the ERF record.

On 21 December 2021, in light of public health restrictions announced on 17 December 2021, I announced a re-opening of the scheme for certain employers who would otherwise be ineligible. These were employers who were previously eligible for EWSS but were not eligible on 31 December 2021. Under these measures, employers who met specific eligibility criteria were afforded an opportunity to apply for re-entry to the EWSS with effect from 1 January 2022. Revenue received 466 applications for re-entry to the EWSS with effect from 1 January 2022 and 9 re-entry applications have been refused to date.

Revenue undertakes a multi-faceted risk-based approach to compliance checks to safeguard the integrity of the EWSS. This includes real time checking of submissions and cross-referencing claim data against other Revenue data sources to identify anomalies or trends requiring attention. Overall, Revenue has finalised EWSS related interventions with 4,081 employers, recouping €24.3 million, which equates to 0.37% of the total subsidy paid. There are further compliance checks with 2,215 employers ongoing, which will be finalised by Revenue in due course.