The Government has committed to ensure that employers pay the full 13th month pay as a right for all employees. Government is conscious that the smaller businesses may face difficulties to comply with this legal requirement in view of potential financial constraints.

In this light, Government has decided to establish a specific support program to assist the micro and small businesses to comply with this requirement ensuring that no employees of these businesses lose out.

For this program, Government is setting aside a sum of SR 5 million in the 2026 budget to support the payment of the 50% of the 13th month pay which was previously subjected to performance appraisal and it will be subject to the conditions and managed through the mechanism detailed below

Note: Any business that has a Government contract is advised to contact the respective Ministry, Department or Agency with which it has such contract for clarification on the 13th month pay.

Eligibility Criteria

This program will only be available to the micro and small businesses as defined in the Enterprise Seychelles Agency Act 2018. These businesses will need to satisfy the following criteria to be eligible for the support:

• Have an annual turnover in the last full financial year of no more than SR 10 million (Micro businesses: turnover of ≤ SR 2 million and ≤ 2 employees; Small businesses: turnover of ≤ SR 10 million and ≤ 15 employees

and be compliant with the following requirements:

• Must have valid tax identification number (TIN) and produce a valid Tax Clearance Certificate.
• Must comply with labor regulations (have no pending violations).
• The businesses will need to show proof of being operational and will have to:
  • Have had a performance appraisal system in place in 2025.
  • Produce the payroll records for employees for 2024 and 2025.
• The support will not be automatic. The businesses will need to show proof of financial distress, that will be caused by payment of the full 13th month pay. The business will need to:
  • Provide Cash flow statements for November and December 2025 and projected cash flow for January 2026
  • Provide all Business Bank Statements (i.e. for all business bank accounts) for the month of December 2025