The Government has launched the 2022 Employment Support Scheme (“the Scheme”) under the Anti-epidemic Fund to provide wage subsidies to employees for three months (i.e. May, June and July 2022) to retain their current employees or even employ more staff when the business revives as soon as the epidemic situation permits. Eligible self-employed persons can also apply for a one-off subsidy.
Eligible Employers
An applicant must fulfil all of the following criteria:
- is not an employer listed in Part I of the Exclusion List (see list);
- must have participated in MPF Schemes or set up ORSO Schemes on or before 31 December 2021;
- has not been involved in winding up, deregistration or striking off process or has not become dormant; and
- has fully settled all clawback/penalty of 2020 Employment Support Scheme (if any) on or before 10 May 2022.
Wage subsidy and calculation
1. Reference month
|
Applicants whose application for 2020 |
Applicants whose application for 2020 |
|
Can choose either: (1) MPF/ORSO Schemes records of the 2020 ESS (“2020 ESS records”), then the “reference month” shall be the “specified month” selected under the 2020 ESS; or
(2) MPF/ORSO Schemes records as at the fourth quarter of 2021 (“2021 Q4 records”), then the “reference month” shall be a month within the period between October and December 2021 which can bring the highest level of the “maximum subsidy amount”
This option will take longer for assessment and subsidy disbursement |
Shall use their MPF/ORSO Schemes records as at the fourth quarter of 2021 (“2021 Q4 records”
The “reference month” shall be a month within the period between October and December 2021 which can bring the highest level of the “maximum subsidy amount” |
2. Subsidised quota cap and maximum subsidy amount
|
Monthly wage of “reference month” |
Respective subsidy quota according to the number of employees within the wage range |
Monthly maximum subsidy amount |
|
$8,000 or more |
= “Full subsidy quota” |
$8,000 x “Full subsidy quota” |
|
At least $3,000 but less than $8,000 |
= “Half subsidy quota” |
$4,000 x “Half subsidy quota” |
|
Employees aged 65 or above with less than $3,000 |
= “Elderly subsidy quota” |
$4,000 x “Elderly subsidy quota” |
|
Total: |
“Subsidised quota cap” |
“Maximum subsidy amount” |
Employers, except for those in the “Restricted List” , may apply for the subsidy for a maximum number of 1,000 employees.
Undertakings and penalty
Employer who claims the subsidy must employ no less than the relevant number of subsidised employees in each subsidy month. Non-compliance will result in clawback of subsidies and financial penalty of equivalent to 10% of the subsidy amount to be returned.
Eligible Self-Employed Person
An applicant must fulfil all of the following criteria:
- must have successfully created an MPF “Self-employed person” account (“MPF SEP account”) on or before 31 December 2021, and has not terminated the account at the time of application; and
- if an eligible self-employed person has more than one “MPF SEP account”, only one application can be submitted.
Eligible applicant will be granted a one-off subsidy of $8,000.
Application period
The application period of the Scheme is from 29 April 2022 at 8:00 am to 12 May 2022 at 11:59 pm. Applicant shall submit the online application form and upload the necessary documents.
For more information, please contact Ms. Amie Cheung at amie.cheung@lccpa.com.hk
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