Two schemes aimed at incentivising more businesses to operate from Gozo – the Gozo Back Office Scheme and the Gozo Business Relocation Scheme – have been launched by Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri.

The Minister said that the aim of the schemes is to continue to attract more investment from the private sector and thereby help create more quality job opportunities in Gozo.

Gozo Back Office Scheme – is to encourage private companies to establish back office work on the island.

He announced that each company can benefit up to a maximum of €35,000 per year from this scheme, where a partial salary reimbursement of up to a maximum of €8,700 per employee will be granted over a period of 3 years, depending on the employee’s pay.

Minister Camilleri explained that for the company to be eligible for reimbursement under this scheme, the employees must only be located in Gozo and in order to guarantee the sustainability of employment, the employment contracts awarded must have a minimum period of 3 years.The first salary reimbursement is assessed exactly after the first year the employee registered under this scheme. Interested companies have until 31st December 2020 to apply, and this covers Back Office work in Gozo that has not started before 1st January 2020. Employees who were already hired before 1st January 2020 are eligible, unless they were already working in Gozo.

The Gozo Business Relocation Scheme is to encourage private entities to establish their operations in Gozo through the relocation of their operations and is aimed at motivating investment from both Maltese and foreign companies, the Minister said.The relocations eligible under this scheme include; full relocation of operation, the relocation of section (s) or department (s) or the relocation of an extension of operations.

The Minister said that the scheme offers financial assistance on two levels: reimbursement, depending on the number of employees proposed, for relocation costs, up to a maximum of €3,750; and a financial package to serve as initial support where the sum of €1,000 will be offered for each employee listed in the business relocation plan, up to a maximum of €40,000.

Companies benefiting from this scheme will be entitled to benefit from other aid schemes granted by the Ministry for Gozo, he said, unless they refer to the same employee.

In order for a company to be eligible to benefit from the scheme in the relocation plan, the beneficiary must list the number of workers it will be employing, with the minimum number being 10 employees.

Minister Camilleri explained that there will be a factor of flexibility in the minimum number of workers depending on the entity and the type of investment proposed. Here the minimum number of employees can drop to 5, he said.

The Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri concluded by saying that employees registered in order to receive a financial grant must be offered a minimum 3-year contract and they must be resident in Gozo.

Interested companies should apply for, and submit their relocation plan on the Ministry for Gozo website.

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