The Australian Government has announced a third stimulus package designed to enable employers to keep as many of their employees on as possible, as affected businesses seek to navigate through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the new JobKeeper payment scheme, businesses impacted by the Covid-19 situation will be able to access a wage subsidy from the Government, enabling them to continue paying their employees. 

Affected employers will be able to claim a fortnightly payment of $1,500 per eligible employee from 30 March 2020, for a maximum of 6 months. 

Employers will be eligible for the subsidy if their turnover has or will be reduced by more than 30% relative to a comparable period a year ago (of at least a month).

Eligible employees are employees who: 

• remain employed by you (including those stood down without pay or re- hired); 

• were employed by you at 1 March 2020; 

• are full time, part time or long term casuals (with at least 12 months’ tenure); 

• are at least 16 years of age; 

• are an Australian citizen, the holder of a permanent visa or similar; and 

• are not in receipt of a JobKeeper payment from another employer. 

If eligible, your business will receive its first payment under this scheme from the ATO in the first week of May. 

For employees currently stood down without pay (or re-hired on that basis), you will not yet need to commence paying them the $1,500 per fortnight payment, rather, we expect this can be back paid to them upon receipt of your first subsidy payment in May.

What You Should Do 

If you believe your business will be eligible, you should register your interest asap via the ATO’s website.  

More specific details regarding this payment scheme are available in the accompanying Fact Sheet. 

How to Claim 

IWS is here to support you with the relevant payroll and claim related processes to ensure you receive your full JobKeeper entitlement. 

We are currently working on a process that will allow our customers to easily notify their IWS payroll officer about any of their employees who become entitled to receive ‘pass through’ wage subsidy payments. We will then handle these payments as part of their regular payruns. 

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the above, please do not hesitate to contact Anthony Pascoe of IWS on 0401 700 107 (even if you are not an IWS customer). 

Stay calm and be kind!