Chief Executive Carrie Lam welcomed the passage of the Government's funding application by the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee today for an injection of $43 billion into the Anti-epidemic Fund (AEF) to implement the 2022 Employment Support Scheme (ESS).

The scheme aims to be open for applications later this month to provide timely financial support for the businesses affected by the fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Mrs Lam thanked the LegCo Finance Committee for once again living up to the spirit of co-operating with the executive for the public's benefit and swiftly approving the funding application of $43 billion for the 2022 ESS this afternoon, following its approval of an injection of $27 billion into the AEF in February this year for the sixth round of support measures.

She said the new-term LegCo fully manifests the unity between the executive and the legislature to address the hardship faced by individuals and businesses amid the epidemic.

To curb the spread of the virus, the Government has resolutely implemented stringent border control and social distancing measures, which have unavoidably left many businesses hard hit.

The new round of the ESS aims to support the businesses affected, directly or indirectly, by this wave of the epidemic, particularly those small and medium-sized ones, through providing time-limited, ie May to July 2022, wage subsidies to help them retain their existing staff or even hire more staff to boost their business.

The Government announced the preliminary framework of the 2022 ESS on March 18. After listening to the views of various parties, the Government unveiled on April 7 the scheme's enhancement measures including removing the monthly salary cap for employees eligible for the wage subsidy.

It is estimated that the 2022 ESS as so refined will benefit around 160,000 employers, 1.6 million employees and 140,000 self-employed people.

Mrs Lam stressed that in implementing the 2022 ESS, the Government will steadfastly uphold the principles of simplicity and user-friendliness throughout the application process, aiming to disburse payments to the first batch of successful applicants in early May.