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Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS)

  1. Overview
  2. Qualifying criteria for employers
  3. Employer eligibility review form
  4. Eligible employees
  5. Registration and operation of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS)
  6. How to claim for employees and subsidy rates
  7. Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) reduced rate
  8. List of employers who received payments under the EWSS

Overview

The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) was an economy-wide enterprise support for eligible businesses in respect of eligible employees. Details of the EWSS were set out in Section 28B of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (COVID-19) Act 2020. The scheme provided a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers based on:

  • the numbers of eligible employees on the employer’s payroll
  • and
  • gross pay to employees.

The EWSS replaced the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) from 1 September 2020. EWSS ended for most employers on 30 April 2022 and for everyone on 31 May 2022.

EWSS key features

  • Employers needed to have valid tax clearance to enter the EWSS. Employers needed to maintain this tax clearance for the duration of the scheme.
  • A reduced rate of employer’s Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) of 0.5% was charged on wages paid before 1 March 2022. This only applied to wages which were eligible for the subsidy payment.
  • Subsidy is based on an employee’s gross weekly wage, including notional pay, before deductions, and excluding non-taxable benefits.

Publication

Revenue publishes a list of the names and addresses of employers who received payments under scheme. This is done on a quarterly basis.

Next: Qualifying criteria for employers

Published: 02 April 2024 Print this page

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