Manx Restart Scheme
The Manx Restart Scheme has been developed as part of the Government’s Economic Recovery Programme to help individuals on the Isle of Man who have been unemployed for three months or more, and to support businesses who wish to grow and take on new staff.
Paragon Recruitment, a local recruitment agency has been selected to administer and co-ordinate The Scheme and match individual applicants with the jobs made available by participating Employers.
Paragon Recruitment will match Employers with potential Employees. Where an Employer chooses to take on an Employee via The Scheme on an open ended or fixed term contract for not less than 52 weeks, the employer must pay at least the national minimum wage (NMW) for the employee.
An employer will then be able to claim back 70% of their salary* and 70% of the employer’s National Insurance contributions. The amount the employer can claim back for *salary is capped at a maximum of 70% of the national living wage, (NLW) or 70% of actual salary whichever is the lesser amount.
For clarity as at November 2020, the National Minimum Wage for those aged 18 and over is £8.25ph and the National Living Wage is £10.19ph
Example
An employer pays the employee the National Living Wage (NLW) of £10.19ph so can claim the maximum of 70% of the NLW which is £7.13 ph and 70% of National Insurance Contributions.
An employer pays the employee £9.00ph so can claim back 70% of the actual salary which would be £6.30ph plus 70% of National Insurance Contributions
An Employer will not be able to claim a Restart payment for more than one Employee, or 5% of their workforce, whichever is higher.
Employers must make their application for a Restart payment within 3 months of the tax week for which the payment is claimed.
If an Employer is dissatisfied with a determination made on their Restart payment claim they can apply to the Treasury to have the determination reviewed. If they remain dissatisfied after that review they can appeal to the Chief Financial Officer against the determination. The Chief Financial Officer’s decision in the matter will be final.
It will be an offence to furnish false, incomplete or misleading information in connection with an application for a Restart payment, punishable on summary conviction by a limited fine or custodial sentence or both. Any Restart payments which have been paid as a consequence of that information being furnished may be recovered.
To qualify as an Employee, a person must;
- Make an application to the Manx Restart Scheme and accept they have read and understood the terms of the scheme and the online guidance;
- be resident in the Isle of Man;
- be aged 16 years or over but below state pension age;
- have been unemployed* for at least 3 months immediately prior to being employed by the employer (though this condition can be waived by Treasury in exceptional circumstances);
- not be a close relative** of the Employer if the Employer is an unincorporated company.
*Note the employee does not need to have been getting social security benefits during the period of unemployment, and will be treated as being unemployed during any period they were furloughed and / or in receipt of MERA.
**Close relative for this purpose is defined as: a parent, parent-in-law, son, son-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, stepparent, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, or the spouse or civil partner
To qualify as an Employer, an employer must:
- Make an application to the Manx Restart Scheme and confirm they have read and understood the terms of the scheme and the online guidance;
- be based in the Isle of Man during the period the qualifying Employee is employed by them;
- be matched with the Employee by Paragon Recruitment through The Scheme;
- offer the Employee an open ended or fixed term contract for not less than 12 months;
- not be a close relative** of the Employee if the employer is an unincorporated company;
- confirm that the Employee’s employment has not arisen due to, or will give rise to, another person being made redundant or having their hours reduced.
**Close relative for this purpose is defined as: a parent, parent-in-law, son, son-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, stepparent, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, or the spouse or civil partner
Please use the links below to find out more about each pathway.
