JobKeeper payment support will be extended into the following year, but at a reduced rate which businesses will find difficult to be eligible for.
JobKeeper will be extended for Australians until March at a slashed rate of $1200 a fortnight and shift to a new two-tiered payment that’s tougher to qualify for, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed.
Mr Morrison made announcements regarding the extension of the scheme on July 21 beyond the initially planned September end-date along with changes to its rate and the future of the JobSeeker unemployment payment.
When the $1500-a-fortnight JobKeeper scheme, which was originally declared, concludes in September, it will continue till March but at a lower rate of $1200-a-fortnight.
However, part-time workers will now be eligible to receive $ 750-a-fortnight from September after it is confirmed that approximately one in four workers on JobKeeper was securing a pay increment worth $550-a-fortnight- the same amount as the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement.
Moreover, businesses will now need to prove a slump of over six months to pass a significantly more difficult new turnover test to qualify for the payment, Mr Morrison has confirmed.
The new two-tiered payments have been declared in the wake of revelations in a report to be released today that a million casual workers scored a pay rise worth up to $7700 on JobKeeper.
The surprise bonus was delivered to an estimated 875,000 long-term casuals who qualified for the $1500-a-fortnight JobKeeper payment.
The COVID-19 pay rise was worth up to $550 a fortnight on average for the one in four workers overpaid and rose to $7,700 over the full six months of the scheme.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann remarked that the review proved JobKeeper was effective and the decision for the extension had been made keeping in mind the companies that were still affected by the government-imposed shutdowns.
“The review of JobKeeper found that the program has been well targeted to those businesses that suffered an average decline in turnover in April of 37 per cent compared to the same month last year,’’ he said.
“What the review also found was that there were a number of features of JobKeeper that created adverse incentives which may become more pronounced over time as the economy recovers. This formed part of our considerations as we looked at the next phase of the JobKeeper program.
“The Government recognises the need for JobKeeper to be extended, we are conscious that there will still be businesses that will continue to be severely impacted by the coronavirus crisis. But we also want to ensure that ultimately we can transition businesses back into a situation where they are able to pay for the wages of their employees out of their income.”
The JobKeeper scheme is the biggest ever one-off financial support measure in the history of Australia which was strategically planned to be executed promptly as numerous businesses across Australia encountered shutdowns and public health restrictions.
According to the ATO, more than 960,000 organisations have been processed for payments covering around 3.5 million individuals.