Minister Humphreys announces decrease in hours threshold for the Wage Subsidy Scheme for Employees with a Disability

Minimum weekly hours threshold for employers to avail of the Wage Subsidy Scheme reduced from 21 to 15 hours from 1st April
Additional €3.7 million in funding for the Wage Subsidy Scheme as part of Budget 2024

Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys TD, has today announced a decrease in the hours threshold for the Wage Subsidy Scheme for employees with a disability.

The weekly threshold for employers to avail of the Wage Subsidy Scheme is reduced from 21 to 15 hours from the 1st April.

The Wage Subsidy Scheme is an employment support which aims to encourage the employment of people with disabilities in the open labour market.

The scheme provides financial incentives to private sector employers to employ people with a disability. The basic rate of subsidy is €6.30 per hour giving a total annual subsidy available of €12,776 per annum based on a 39-hour week.

From April 1st the work offered must be for a minimum of 15 hours per week (reduced from 21 hours as a result of this measure) and the subsidy is available up to 39 hours per week.

More information on the Wage Subsidy Scheme can be found at Gov.ie Wage Subsidy Scheme.

Announcing the change which takes effect next week, the Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys TD, said:

“To support people with disabilities I am proud to announce that, with effect from the start of April, we are reducing the weekly hours threshold for employers to avail of the Wage Subsidy Scheme from 21 to 15 hours.

“In anticipation of recommendations contained in the review of this scheme I wanted to make this change as soon as was possible.

“It is based on feedback from the sector through the consultation process and will help support more disabled people into employment.”

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to fine-tune and expand targeted employment schemes, such as the Wage Subsidy Scheme, to help more people with disabilities stay in the workforce. The Department of Social Protection is currently carrying out a review of the scheme which is expected to be finalised over the coming months.

The review included a four-week public consultation last year with people with disabilities, employers and the general public, that received over 1,000 submissions.

Notes to Editor

The Wage Subsidy Scheme is a demand-led scheme and there are currently 1,512 private sector employers availing of the subsidy in respect of 2,441 participant employees.

The financial supports for employers are structured under three separate strands and companies could benefit under one strand or under two or three strands simultaneously depending on the number of people with a disability employed: -

Strand I is a general subsidy for any perceived productivity shortfall in excess of 20% for a person with a disability, in comparison to a colleague without a disability. The subsidy is based on the number of hours worked.
Strand II subsidy is payable when an employer employs three or more people with disabilities who are supported by a Wage Subsidy Scheme Strand I payment. Strand II is intended to cover the additional supervisory, management and other work-based costs relating to such employees. This top-up payment is a percentage of the Strand I subsidy and is based on the overall number of employees with a disability employed under Strand I. It ranges from an additional 10% of wage subsidy for 3 to 6 employees with a disability to a maximum of 50% of wage subsidy for 23+ employees with a disability.
Strand III subsidy enables employers who employ 25 or more workers with a disability on the Wage Subsidy Scheme to be eligible for a grant of up to €30,000 per year towards the expense of employing an Employment Assistance Officer to support these employees.