Wage subsidy continues after JobKeeper bill passed by Parliament
JobKeeper and JobSeeker are set to continue after a bill was officially passed in parliament on Wednesday. The bill was introduced in March and was due to end in September.
“I look forward to us continuing to provide the single greatest ever income support that Australians have ever received,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
“We are scanning and searching for every opportunity to keep people in jobs.”
Companies that will continue to receive Jobkeeper will still be able to change employees’ hours, their list of duties and their work location as these concerns have not yet been addressed.
Those who are no longer able to receive JobKeeper, may be eligible to resume with the payments if they can prove a 10 per cent reduction in turnover.
At the end of September, the wage subsidy will be cut from $1500 to $1200 a fortnight and then to $1000 from December to March.
As we have previously reported, several changes were made to the JobKeeper payment scheme last month. The most significant change was employers already enrolled in JobKeeper, would be further eligible to receive the JobKeeper payment for more of their employees.
Further to that, employees who may have lost their job before 1 July 2020, could also be nominated by a new employer.
It should be noted that employees can still only be nominated by one employer at any given time.
“JobKeeper enrolments are still open. We encourage all businesses to review the eligibility criteria and if eligible, enrol in the program to start receiving JobKeeper payments. Employers already receiving JobKeeper are encouraged to review the new eligibility criteria against all employees and updated guidance is now available on our website,” said Deputy Commissioner James O’Halloran.
We will continue to report any changes to Jobkeeper and JobSeeker as they come to hand.
Irit Jackson, 27th August 2020
