Employers can apply for wage subsidy programme online starting April 9

PETALING JAYA: Employers who want to apply for the wage subsidy scheme targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can send in their applications to the Social Security Organisation (Socso) starting Thursday (April 9).

According to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) advisory issued by the Human Resource Ministry on Wednesday (April 8), the applications can be done online at prihatin.perkeso.gov.my.

It added that the application date for the subsidy closes on Sept 15, subject to how much funding remains or if the government makes any other decision.

The wage subsidy will be credited to the employer’s account within 7-14 days from the date of approval, said the FAQ.

It added that employer will be notified of the status of their application via email, and that the list of employers approved will also be displayed on the Socso website eiscentre.perkeso.gov.my

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had said on Monday (April 6) that the wage subsidy programme announced on March 27 would be expanded from RM5.9bil to RM13.8bil, an increase of RM7.9bil.

The programme was part of an additional package, valued at RM10bil, intended to ease the financial burden of SMEs and subsequently assure that two-thirds of the workforce will remain employed.

Under the additional initiative, all companies with local employees earning a monthly salary each of RM4,000 or less are eligible for wage subsidies.

For companies with a workforce of more than 200 people, the government will provide a wage subsidy of RM600 per month for every retained worker.

However, the maximum number of workers that a company is eligible to claim for was increased from 100 to 200 employees.

For companies with between 75 and 200 employees, they will receive a wage subsidy of RM800 per month for every employee, while companies with fewer than 75 employees will be provided a wage subsidy of RM1,200 per month per employee.

While there are no conditions set for companies with fewer than 75 workers, companies of the other two categories will have to prove that their income has decreased by more than 50% compared to January of this year.

This assistance is for a three-month period and is specifically for employers registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) or local authorities before Jan 1,2020 and are registered with Socso.

Muhyiddin had said that an estimated 4.8 million employees would benefit from the initiative.

For employers opting to accept this assistance, they are required to retain their employees for at least six months – the three months during which they receive the subsidies, and three months thereafter.

According to the FAQ, those who stopped working, freelancers, foreigners, and civil servants are not eligible for the subsidy.