A Government spokesman today (June 5) reminded eligible employers and self-employed persons (SEPs) wishing to apply for the first tranche of wage subsidies under the Employment Support Scheme (ESS) to submit applications before 11.59pm on June 14 (Sunday), the deadline for application. Applications should be submitted through the ESS online portal at (www.ess.gov.hk).
Since the commencement of the three-week application period on May 25, the ESS has received, up to 6pm today, over 140 000 applications from employers and 170 000 from SEPs.
The spokesman said, "The vetting process of all the applications received is expeditiously underway with a view to disbursing wage subsidies to successful applicants starting from mid-June."
Upon completion of the processing of applications, the ESS Secretariat will inform successful applicants of the results via SMS and email. Applicants can login the ESS portal to check the amount of subsidy granted and the committed head count for the months of June to August 2020.
The spokesman said, "We note that quite a number of individual applicants who have applied for the one-off lump-sum subsidy of $7,500 are in fact not eligible."
"We wish to remind that to be eligible for the ESS one-off subsidy, the applicant must have enrolled himself/herself in an Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Scheme as a 'SEP' and the relevant SEP MPF account should have been set up on or before March 31, 2020 (i.e. cannot be backdated to that date or any earlier dates), and has not been terminated as of March 31, 2020.
"Applicants who have set up MPF accounts as an employee (including employees who have ceased employment) are not eligible to apply for the one-off subsidy for SEPs."
For enquiries, please send email to enquiry@employmentsupport.hk or call the ESS hotline (1836 122). The operation hours during the remaining application period are as follows:
| June 5–10 | 9am to 6pm |
| June 11-13 | 9am to 8pm (extended by 2 hours) |
| June 14 | 9am to 11.59pm (extended by 6 hours) |
Applicants who need assistance in completing their online applications may call the ESS hotline to make appointments with the following three ESS Help Desks during the application period:
- North Point Help Desk at Room 1701, A T Tower, 180 Electric Road, North Point;
- Kwun Tong Help Desk at Room 2507, Prosperity Center, 25 Chong Yip Street, Kwun Tong; and
- Tsuen Wan Help Desk at Room 1206, Chinachem Tsuen Wan Plaza, 455 Castle Peak Road – Tsuen Wan.
The operating hours of the Help Desks during the remaining application period are as follows:
| June 5-10 | 9am to 6pm |
| June 11-13 | 9am to 8pm (extended by 2 hours) |
| June 14 | 9am to 10pm (extended by 4 hours) |
The operation hours of the ESS hotline and the Help Desks will be extended to Monday to Sunday (9am to 6pm) to answer enquiries beyond the application period.
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