News

JobMaker can turn volunteers into employees

13
October
2020

JobMaker benefits for NFPs

It’s now little over a week since the Federal Government has announced their big spending Budget aimed to get Australia back to work and on track. While the tax cuts won’t necessarily help not-for-profit organisations, it’s the $4b in hiring credits that are up for grabs which may suit. We take a look at some of the detail…

What JobMaker is supposed to do

The massive incentive is expected to get business to hire an additional 450,000 workers aged in the16-35 age bracket. Businesses will get an extra $200 per week for hiring a16-29yo employee, and if they are 30-35, the business only gets $100.

The Fine Print on JobMaker for Charities

Some critics have suggested this will cause some discriminatory ageism in the recruitment process. But part of the finer print says these young employees must have received JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, or Parenting Payment for one of the three months before they get hired. The employer will have to prove that they’ve increased the total number of employees, and that the new recruit works at least 20hrs per week (averaged over a quarter). This might be a great opportunity for your organisation to turn some of these volunteer roles to permanent.

Payments will be made quarterly in arrears. This is all a drive to get people working and dove tails into other schemes such as the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy where employers get a 50% subsidy of up to $7,000 a quarter of a new apprentice or trainee’s wage. The Government has allowed for 100,000 places for this.

Subsidies are available to businesses of any size between 5th October 2020, and 30thSeptember 2021, so now is the time to review whether your organisation needs extra assistance ahead of the Christmas rush.