The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD announced plans on 29 May, to make the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) available to employees returning to work following maternity or adoptive leave.

As the subsidy payment was designed to apply to employees on the payroll for January and February 2020, employees returning to work following maternity or adoptive leave were not eligible for a TWSS payment, where they were not on the payroll on 29 February 2020, or where the employer was not paying wages to the employee who was on such leave in either January or February.

Chartered Accountants Ireland, responding to feedback from our membership, raised this matter with senior Government officials. The changes announced on Friday 29 May 2020 mean that employers will receive appropriate subsidy payments in respect of affected employees from 12 June 2020 backdated to 26 March 2020 for employees retained on payroll by their employers.

For employees who were ceased from payroll and in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), no retrospection will apply as the individual was already in receipt of income support payments. However, employers may rehire these employees and the TWSS will be applied for these cases once their PUP claim has been ceased with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP).

Further Revenue guidance and information for employers on this new TWSS development are expected to issue in the near future and such information will be reported in Chartered Accountants eNews and on our Covid-19 information hub.