The Labour Ministry recently launched a €4 million scheme to encourage employers in Cyprus to hire inactive women through flexible employment arrangements.

The plan, approved by cabinet September 3 and co-funded by the EU’s Social Fund Plus under the ‘THALEIA 2021–2027’ programme, seeks to bring at least 470 women into the workforce. 

Under the scheme, employers will receive €48 per working day for the first ten months of employment, regardless of the actual wage cost.  

They must then keep the employee for two additional months without subsidy. Based on this unit cost, the maximum payment over a 12-month contract reaches €8,600. 

The measure applies to ‘inactive women’, defined as those who are neither employed nor self-employed, not registered with the Public Employment Service (Pes), and not seeking work in the previous 28 days. Eligibility is assessed against active unemployment registration records held by Pes. 

To qualify, the job must be offered on flexible terms. These include full or alternating telework, flexible working hours, individual working-time accounts, compressed work weeks, part-time contracts, or job sharing. The chosen arrangement must be written into the employment contract and verifiable during an audit. 

Employers can apply if they are established in areas under the effective control of the Republic, are registered with Social Insurance and hold CY Login access.  

Each may hire up to five women per call. The vacancy must be notified to Pes before recruitment, and applications must be submitted within one month of hiring through the Labour Department’s online platform. 

The scheme requires the hire to be new: the woman must not have worked for the same employer in the previous eight months, including within affiliated companies under the same ultimate owner.  

Pay must also respect the national minimum wage, starting at €900 gross for full-time positions and rising to €1,000 after six months with the same employer.  

In addition, the hire must represent a net increase in staff numbers in the same occupation compared with the previous month, except in cases of voluntary departure, retirement or lawful dismissal. 

Certain groups are excluded, like self-employed individuals subsidising themselves, company shareholders or directors (other than in public companies), association or foundation board members, and relatives of the employer up to second degree.  

Employers must show they carry out economic activity and have no outstanding debts to the tax or social insurance authorities. The scheme is governed by the EU’s de minimis regulation, with total aid capped at €300,000 per undertaking over a rolling three-year period. 

Payments may be claimed in up to three instalments, each covering at least four completed months, or in one instalment after 12 months.  

Employers must keep a separate electronic file per hire for at least five years to provide an adequate audit trail. Funding can be terminated and recovered in cases of false declarations, irregularities, fraud or material changes affecting eligibility. 

Applications opened on September 5 and will remain open until the budget is exhausted or the call is formally closed.  

Employers whose applications are rejected may appeal within 21 days via the same platform; an independent three-member panel reviews cases within six weeks before the Department’s Director issues a final ruling. 

According to the ministry, the initiative forms part of wider active employment policies aimed at reducing poverty, promoting social inclusion and integrating vulnerable groups into the labour market.