Public Consultation on the Wage Subsidy Scheme
- Published on: 23 June 2023
- Open for submissions from: 23 June 2023
- Submissions closed: 21 July 2023
- Last updated on: 1 August 2023
Consultation is closed
What is the Wage Subsidy Scheme consultation about?
The government wants to make sure that people with disabilities who want and are able to work are supported and enabled to do so.
To do this, the government wants to get your views on how to improve the Wage Subsidy Scheme. Please send us your views by 5pm Friday 21 July.
The Wage Subsidy Scheme
The Wage Subsidy Scheme gives a payment called a subsidy to private sector employers to reduce the cost of employing people with disabilities. The scheme aims to enable disabled people to become self-sufficient (self-supporting) in the workforce.
How it works
The scheme pays a subsidy to an employer if a disabled employee has the skills for the job, but due to their disability produces about 20% less work when compared to an employee doing the same work in the same time allocated who does not have a disability.
Example
Carrie has a disability and works as a software developer in Company Cloud, she can write 10 lines of code in 3 hours.
Jessica, also in Company Cloud, does the same work. She does not have a disability. She can write 12 lines of code in 3 hours. (20% more than Carrie).
The quality of code Carrie and Jessica write is the same, but Carrie writes fewer lines as her back problem means she has to get up from her chair quite regularly. This can break her concentration so she can’t write 12 lines as fast as Jessica.
Terms of employment
When a person with a disability qualifies for the Wage Subsidy Scheme, their employment contract must be the same as other similar workers.
Example
To use the example above, Carrie and Jessica must have the same terms such as annual leave (holiday) days, rates of pay, and so on.
The contract must be for at least 21 hours. An employer can offer more than 39 hours work each week but can only claim a subsidy for up to 39 hours and no more.
How to get employers to hire more disabled people
To encourage employers to hire more disabled people there are three subsidy strands. The employer can benefit from one or all at the same time.
Strand 1
The Department of Social Protection gives the employer a subsidy of €6.30 per hour for each employee under the scheme for the first two people hired.
Strand 2
When employers hire more than two people with disabilities under this scheme the Department of Social Protection pays them a higher subsidy amount. Strand 2 subsidy should cover the additional costs of employing more than two people with a disability under the scheme.
Strand 2 is paid as follows:
| 3 to 6 disabled employees | 10% subsidy top-up | €6.93 paid per hour for each employee |
| 7 to 11 disabled employees | 20% subsidy top-up | €7.56 paid per hour for each employee |
| 12 to 16 disabled employees | 30% subsidy top-up | €8.19 paid per hour for each employee |
| 17 to 22 disabled employees | 40% subsidy top-up | €8.82 paid per hour for each employee |
| 23+ disabled employees | 50% subsidy top-up | €9.45 paid per hour for each employee |
Strand 3
When employers hire 25 or more people with disabilities under this scheme the Department of Social Protection pays them €30,000 each year to help them pay towards the cost of employing an Employment Assistance Officer. €30,000 is paid for each group of 25 employees. An employer can get payments for 5 Employment Assistance Officers, but no more.
Example:
Company Cloud, has 48 employees working with it under the Wage Subsidy Scheme. This means that Company Cloud receives €9.45 per hour and €30,000 towards the cost of employing an Employment Assistance Officer.
Company Sunshine, has 50 employees working with it under the Wage Subsidy Scheme. This means that Company Cloud receives €9.45 per hour that each scheme employee works and €60,000 towards the cost of employing two Employment Assistance Officers.
The Employment Assistance Officer’s job is to support and assist the Wage Subsidy Employees at work. Employment Assistance Officer’s work should focus on the personal, social, health or family circumstances of disabled employees, which might stop them from staying in their job.
Read more about the Wage Subsidy Scheme.
How to share your views
The Department of Social Protection invites two main groups of people to share their views by completing the relevant survey below:
- employers
- people with disabilities
All survey responses will be completely anonymous, but all views may be published on our website and feature as a summary in a report.
Written submissions from people with disabilities, employers, representative groups and the wider public can also be made.
If the online surveys or submissions are not accessible to you, you can do one of the following:
- complete the survey with a member of the team over the phone on Mondays and Wednesdays between 9am and 11am or 2pm and 4pm by calling 01 7043606
- download the survey or submission template below, print it, and return it to the postal address below
- download the survey or submission template below, save it, and return it to the email address below. Please put “WSS Consultation” in the subject line.
Survey for People with Disabilities
Survey for Employers
Submission template
Before making any submission, it is important to read the privacy information below as your submission may be published on gov.ie.
What will happen to the information in my response?
The Department of Social Protection will review all the responses when considering how best to reform the Wage Subsidy Scheme.
We will use the responses to see if the scheme is meeting its aims. We will use the recommendations about changes or new provisions to inform how the Wage Subsidy Scheme works in the future.
All survey responses are completely anonymous, so no one can identify you. However, if you are making a written submission, please read the privacy information below.
We will publish a report on the consultation on gov.ie with a summary of the written submissions and survey results.
How we keep your information private
This is a public consultation, and the Freedom of Information Act 2014 applies. This means that written submission may be published by the Department of Social Protection in full. We ask you to please read our Privacy Statement.
To help us protect your privacy, we ask you not to provide information that is:
- personal
- commercially sensitive
- anything which you would not want made public
(Commercially sensitive information includes information on pricing, profits, new ideas or sensitive industry knowledge.)
However, if you do provide commercially sensitive information, please
clearly identify the material, and tell us:
- why it is commercially sensitive
- why it should not be published or made available under the Freedom of Information Act
We may receive a request to release a submission under the Freedom of Information Act, and be required to release it.
In these cases, we will consult with you about the information that is personal or identified as commercially sensitive. We will do this before we decide to:
- release the submission – in full
- release part of the submission (certain details will be blacked out so they can’t be read)
- not release the submission
How long will you keep the submissions?
We will keep submissions until the review process including implementation of any accepted recommendations has finished.
Relevant legislation
All responses to this consultation are subject to:
Our contact details
The deadline to send your survey or submission is 5pm on Friday 21 July.
Email:DCPolicyConsultation@welfare.ie
Phone:
01 704 3606
Address:
WSS Review
Disability and Carers Policy Unit
Floor Four
Áras Mhic Dhiarmada
Store Street
Dublin 1
D01 WY03