Revised COVID-19 Wage Supplement Scheme launched

In a 5 January 2021 press conference, the government announced details of a revision of the Wage Supplement Scheme, under which COVID-19 business aid will no longer be calculated on the basis of an entity's Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE) classification code, but rather on loss of turnover. This is a key change in approach and will likely affect many businesses.

A new method for calculating wage support for businesses hit by the pandemic was announced in the 2021 Budget, relative to which further details were given during the 5 January 2021 press conference. The support level will be calculated according to the difference in turnover declared by businesses over the six months between March 2019 and October 2019 against turnover declared over the six months between March 2020 and October 2020, and will be determined as follows:

• Businesses that incurred a loss of 55% or more in turnover will be entitled to €800 per month for full-time workers and €500 per month for part-time workers.
• Businesses that incurred a loss of between 45% and 54% in turnover will be entitled to €640 per month for full-time workers and €400 per month for part-time workers.
• Businesses that incurred a loss of between 35% and 44% in turnover will be entitled to €480 per month for full-time workers and €300 per month for part-time workers.
• Businesses that incurred a loss of between 25% and 34% in turnover will be entitled to €320 per month for full-time workers and €200 per month for part-time workers.
• Businesses that incurred a loss of between 10% and 24% in turnover will be entitled to €160 per month for full-time workers and €100 per month for part-time workers.
• Businesses that incurred a loss of less than 9% in turnover will no longer be eligible to benefit from the Wage Supplement Scheme.

According to publicly available information:

• businesses that were required to close during the pandemic by law (eg, bars) will receive the maximum wage supplement (ie, €800 per month for full-time workers); and
• for businesses that are value added tax (VAT) exempt and those which recently applied for a VAT number, the level of support to be paid will be determined according to the current scheme (Annexes A, B and C) – that is, prior to these revisions – which is based on the business's NACE classification code.

Moreover, the revised Wage Supplement Scheme will benefit businesses which have replaced workers with new workers. In such cases, the supplement will be backdated to October 2020.

For further information on this topic please contact Sarah Rausi at Fenech & Fenech Advocates by telephone (+356 2124 1232) or email (sarah.rausi@fenechlaw.com). The Fenech & Fenech website can be accessed at www.fenechlaw.com.