…also known as the UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE SCHEME.
Here is an outline of the scheme:
- Finance Minister Grant Robertson designed this proposed new scheme alongside the Council of Trade Unions and Business NZ, and campaigned on it before the 2020 election.
- Much like ACC, the scheme would be funded by the levy paid by both workers and their employers – about 1.39 per cent each.
- The new scheme would be less focused on making people keep their current jobs and more focused on supporting them if they had to transition or retrain for new employment.
- Workers would become eligible after paying into the scheme for six months, though it would likely not be in place until after the 2023 election.
- There is a possibility that the lowest-income earners could be exempt from having to pay into the scheme
- This new scheme will pay people who suddenly lose their jobs, either through redundancy illness, up to 80% of their usual income per week – capped at $1,820.
- Those who lost their job would be given four weeks notice and a four-week payment at 80 per cent of their salary. If they could not find more work they would get up to 80 percent of their usual income for another six months
- This would be far more generous than normal unemployment benefits, which are not time-limited or related to prior earnings.
- This pot of money would be administered by ACC and paid out by them.
Consultation on the scheme closes on April 26.
We wait with bated breath!!!