The Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) covers the payment of workers’ entitlements if their employer collapses without sufficient money to cover them.
Modelling conducted by the Attorney-General’s department predicts the FEG will have to cover around $500 million in payments in 2021-22 and that the scheme will cost around $1.3 billion in total over the next three years: Officials from the Attorney-General’s Department detailed a big rise in the amount of money expected to be paid out under the government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme, with the amount jumping from $162.3m in 2019-20 to a forecast $468m this financial year.
According to projections provided to a Senate estimates hearing on Monday, the amount to be paid out will rise to $500m next financial year, while the amount budgeted for 2022-23 is $374m.