Significant Support to Relocate Staff

The Department for Enterprise announced at ISLEXPO 2018 that it is investing a further two million pounds into its targeted relocation initiative to encourage employers in target, export sectors to bring new staff to the Isle of Man.

The Employee Relocation Incentive allows employers who have a new position and are unable to secure local workers to receive up to 20% of the first year’s salary costs where the employee is recruited off Island up to the value of £10,000 per position.

The assistance is available to all export sectors, including financial and professional services, digital and e-Business businesses, and a wide range of manufacturing businesses.

This incentive, piloted over the last twelve months has been hugely effective so far, helping local businesses secure over 200 new employees who have relocated to the Isle of Man and are now contributing to the Island’s economy.

Laurence Skelly MHK, Minister for Enterprise, commented:

‘Our Department has worked hard with industry and across Government to drive down our unemployment to a significantly low level (currently 1%) and as a consequence the number of workers is up. We now have 1,400 more people in employment than when we launched ISLEXPO in 2016 and this is incredibly important in terms of our tax receipts.

‘Looking forward all the indicators point to business growth and we are seeing record numbers of new businesses starting up through our full range of Enterprise Support Schemes, a trend which looks to continue. We remain committed to attracting new business and nurturing talent and providing skills development for our local workers, and this will remain important but in itself this is not enough.

‘To meet these levels of demand we know we need to grow our economically active population, making sure we have enough people to fuel the development of our local businesses and our economy.

‘This targeted initiative will help our local employers find additional, skilled workers to ensure they can find continued growth and success in the Isle of Man. Some businesses have used the incentive so far to assist with finding suitable candidates, others have used it to work with recruitment agencies and some have used it to support candidates through the costs of relocation. The incentive can also be used to reach out to the Manx Diaspora around the world to encourage their return home.

‘The incentive is relatively simple and not intended to take away opportunities from local workers but is instead put in place to grow the Island’s workforce where local employees are unavailable. The incentive forms a key pillar of the Department’s Locate strategy which will be published in July this year.’

The incentive is positive for the tax payer by way of the extra national insurance and income tax generated by the new employees – in the pilot the benefits outweighed the costs within the first ten months.

The further support of the Employee Relocation Incentive is part of a wide ranging review of all the Department’s Enterprise Support schemes which will be completed by October this year.

To find out more details and see if your business is eligible for the scheme please contact the Enterprise Support team enterprisesupport@gov.im