In our last e-bulletin we described the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS). Since then a number of changes have taken or will take place to both schemes.
The extraordinary exclusion of women who were on maternity leave in early 2020 has been addressed in the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS). In their Frequently Asked Questions document, version 15, which gives "Guidance on the Operational phase of the COVID-19: Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme", Section 3.15 covers the “Inclusion in TWSS of employees returning to employment after Maternity, Adoptive or Parental leave or employees who received certain DEASP benefit payment.”
In Section 3.15.1 they note “An eligible employer can request Revenue to treat an employee as an eligible employee for the purposes of this scheme where that employee returns (or is due to return in the coming weeks) to employment following Maternity, Adoptive, Paternity or Parental leave, or directly related unpaid leave, or was in receipt of Health and Safety benefit, Parent's benefit, or Illness benefit paid by DEASP for the month of February 2020.”
Later they say “On receipt of each request, Revenue will check DEASP data to ensure the employee was in receipt of maternity, adoptive, paternity, Health and Safety, Parent's or Illness benefit payments or was off the payroll after receiving such benefits, whether the employee has returned to work and, also previous payroll submissions to ensure previous gross pay is comparable with that declared in the downloadable form by the employer.”
Under the TWSS the level of subsidy is determined by the Revenue Commissioners using the Average Revenue Net Weekly Pay (ARNWP). For employees returning from maternity level the Revenue will use pay and related data provided by the employer to determine a “Calculated Revenue Net Weekly Pay” (CRNWP) and from there “calculate the relevant employee’s Maximum Weekly Wage Subsidy (MWWS) and will provide this, along with other necessary information, to the employer in respect of each requested employee. Where a returning employee has more than one employment Revenue will calculate the CRNWP at employment and employee level and provide information to each employer on the MWWS applicable for that employment. The information will be included in the ‘Employer CSV file’.”
For further information the full FAQ V15 is available at https://www.revenue.ie/en/employing-people/documents/pmod-topics/guidance-on-operation-of-twss.pdf
On June 5th, 2020 the Government announced that the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) will remain in place until the end of August.
On the same day the Government also approved the extension of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) until at least August 10th, 2020, which would have coincided with the start of Phase 5 of the Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business. The Roadmap has now been reduced to four phases with July 20th now the date when, all going well, the country will have fully re-opened. Of course, the impact of the crisis has been such that some businesses and organisations may find it very difficult to re-open given the health and safety measures that may apply for the foreseeable future.
The extension of the PUP was not the only announcement the Government made in early June on PUP. They are also proposing making a change to the payment, creating two levels, which will link it to the recipients’ earnings before COVID-19 pandemic hit the country. This change will coincide with Phase 3 of the Roadmap, scheduled to start on June 29th.
So, for people who earned at least €200 per week before the crisis, their PUP will remain at €350 per week, which is equivalent to a Jobseeker’s main claimant’s personal payment and a Qualified Adult payment rounded up to the nearest €50.
But, for people whose prior earnings were up to €199.99 per week, their PUP rate will be reduced to €203 per week. This is equivalent to the maximum personal payment on a Jobseeker’s payment.
On Jobseeker’s Benefit there are currently four levels to this payment depending on the recipient’s average weekly earnings. So, for anyone who could also claim for a Qualified Adult, they may be better off applying for a Jobseeker’s Benefit payment if they were earning more than €150 but less than €200. However, depending on the person’s circumstances they may in fact be better off applying for the means tested payment Jobseeker’s Allowance. These two scenarios highlighted the complexity of the Jobseekers payment system in comparison to the greatly simplified process used to create access to and distribute the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.
The Government also announce that there will also be an extension until August 10th, of the waiver of waiting days on Jobseeker's payments and the increased rate of payment for Qualified Adults, which was increased from €134.70 to €147, to bring it into line with the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.
If you need any assistance in understanding and assessing your options please contact our Welfare Rights Information Team at (01) 856 0088 or through https://www.inou.ie/about/contact-us/