Applications opened today for the Government’s JobKeeper scheme, and it’s understood around 6.7 million Australians are expected to benefit.
The $130 billion program is the largest single piece of government spending in Australian history and is designed to support businesses and workers during the coronavirus crisis.
Around 850,000 businesses have registered with the Australian Tax Office for the funding, which will see the Government subsidise wages and salary for eligible employees.
The Government will give employers $1,500 a fortnight, per eligible worker, which will then be passed directly to the employee.
Companies who benefit, must tell their employee that it intends to claim JobKeeper for them and anyone with several jobs, can choose which one will nominate as claims cannot be made through more than one employer.
The payments have been backdated from March and will begin to roll out in the first week of May.
Here are the criteria of whether you are eligible for JobKeeper:
- Employers can register if their business has an annual turnover of less than $1 billion and has experienced a 30 per cent fall in revenue since March 1.
- Companies with an annual turnover of more than $1 billion will have to have a 50 per cent fall in revenue to be eligible for the scheme.
- If the company has closed down and you’re made redundant or fired, you’ll instead have to apply for JobSeeker
To be eligible for the JobKeeper payment, you need to ensure:
- You are currently employed (including those stood down or re-hired) by an eligible employer
- You were employed by the employer at March 1, 2020
- You are either full-time, part-time, or a long-term casual (a casual employed on a regular basis for longer than 12 months as at March 1, 2020)
- You are at least 16 years of age
- You are an Australian citizen, the holder of a permanent visa, a protected special category visa holder, a non-protected special category visa holder who has been residing continually in Australia for 10 years or more, or a special category (subclass 444) visa holder
- You are not in receipt of a JobKeeper payment from another employer.