Disability Awareness & The Wage Subsidy Scheme
For over nine years I worked with EmployAbility Service, Ireland's national supported employment provider for people with disabilities. During this time, I worked both as Employment Facilitator and Company Coordinator and had the opportunity to work in both rural and urban settings, engaging employers from a wide variety of backgrounds.
As someone who worked closely with clients with a wide range of disabilities, as well as employers interested in hiring them, in many cases if it was not for the Wage Subsidy Scheme we simply would have not been able to successfully place some service users into jobs.
So, what is the Wage Subsidy Scheme?
The Wage Subsidy Scheme is a financial incentive for employers who employ people with disabilities. It has been in operation since 2005 when it replaced the Employment Support Scheme and the Pilot Programme for the Employment of People with Disabilities. The purpose of the Wage Subsidy Scheme is to act as a form of positive action by increasing the participation rated of disabled people in the Irish labour market.
It is important to remember that this incentive is solely for employers and does not apply to people with disabilities themselves.
Some disabled people may find that when working, there is a restriction in their productivity as a result of their disability. This is to be taken in the context of the same role being performed by a non-disabled peer. A person with a disability may have the exact same ability to do the job, it just may take longer for example. If this is the case, the Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS) can make up the shortfall.
The WSS is available to private sector companies who hire an employee with a disability providing the employee works a minimum of 21 hours per week. The employee can work more than the 39 hour week, if agreed with the employer, but the WSS is only payable for a maximum of 39 hours per week. In order to qualify for the WSS the employee must be contracted for a minimum of 6 months. The basic rate of subsidy is €5.30 per hour.
Job seekers who are on certain disability related payments such as Disability Allowance and Blind Pension can qualify for the WSS without a medical assessment. If an employer in interested in hiring someone with a disability who does not receive a disability related payment, they may still qualify for a WSS by getting a doctor's report or a specialist's report accompanied by a confidential WSS Medical Report Form, provided by the DEASP.
If a company already has an employee who has a disability which results in a shortfall in productivity, they may still apply for the WSS providing the employee has been employed for less than twelve months.
By June 2019 there were over 1,671 employers registered in Ireland as using the WSS. This scheme is a significant contributor to the employment of people with disabilities in Ireland and the continuation of its funding is vital to the employment of thousands of people.
