The Hong Kong Government has launched a third round of financial support to aid employers retain their current employees, or even employ more staff, as part of its continued Anti-epidemic Fund measures. Eligible employers can receive subsidies of up to HKD8,000 per employee for three months whilst eligible self-employed applicants can receive a one-off payment. The Employment Support Scheme 2022 eligibility criteria and application process are largely the same as for the initial scheme launched in 2020. The application process opens today, 29 April, and runs until 12 May 2022. Eligibility Employer: must have participated in Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) or set-up Occupational Retirement (ORSO) Schemes on or before 31 December 2021; is not listed in Part 1 of the Exclusion List (including Government organisations, consulates, universities); is not involved in winding up, deregistration or striking-off process, or has not become dormant; and has fully settled all clawback/penalty payments relating to the 2020 ESS by 10 May 2022. Self-employed person: should apply in an individual capacity as a self-employed person; must have successfully created an MPF ‘self-employed person’ account on or before 31 December 2021, and have not terminated the account at the time of application; and where an eligible self-employed person has more than one MPF ‘self-employed person’ account, only one application can be made. Subsidy structure and calculations Employers can choose the reference month against which the MPF/ORSO wage records are referenced to calculate the subsidies. Where employers successfully applied for ESS 2020 subsidies, the same reference month can be used, or if preferred, a month between October to December 2021 can be chosen if it provides a higher wage subsidy. New applicants must select a reference month