That is if the current lockdown is extended beyond seven days
Staff Reporter
Auckland, February 16, 2021
New Zealand businesses will get another grant and wage subsidy if the current alert levels in the country is extended to more than seven days.
Auckland is on Alert Level 3 and the rest of New Zealand under Level 2 from midnight of Sunday to 11.59 pm on Wednesday.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Grant Robertson said that Parliament will consider a new Legislation to allow the government to make the disbursement should the Alert Levels be extended to more than seven days to businesses that show 30% drop in revenue.
He said that the government has noted the concerns of the business community about Alert Level rises and will respond quickly as the need arises.
Cash payments to businesses
“Firms that experience a 30% drop in revenue over a -day period will be eligible. The payment would include a core per business rate of $1500 plus $400 per employee up to a total of 50 FTEs ($21,500). This payment recognises that some businesses face one-off costs or impacts to cashflow when we step up an Alert Level to follow public health advice. It has been structured to provide most support to smaller firms who are most likely to face cashflow issues but will be available to all businesses and sole traders,” Mr Robertson said.
He said that since the scheme was announced in December 2020, the government decided to make a change to the payment by reducing the time over which a revenue drop is assessed from 14 days to seven days.
The Support Package
The government has a package of support available, in addition to this payment, including:
A new Short-Term Absence Payment to cover eligible workers needing to stay at home while awaiting a Covid-19 test result. This is a one-off payment of $350 to employers to pay workers who need to stay home while awaiting a test or while someone who is their dependent is doing so, in accordance with public health advice. Further information about this payment is available on the MSD website.
The Leave Support Scheme helps businesses to help pay workers (including self-employed) told to self-isolate because of Covid-19. It is paid as a lump sum and covers two weeks per eligible employee at the rates of $585.80 for each employee working 20 hours or more a week and $350 for each employee working less than 20 hours a week.
Information is available here.
The Wage Subsidy Scheme will also be available nationally when there is a regional or national move to Alert Levels three and four for a period of seven days. The support will be provided in two weekly payments for the duration of the alert level period, rounded to the nearest fortnight. The Wage Subsidy Scheme has been very effective in keeping people in work so far with more than $14 billion paid out to protect 1.8 million jobs.
Other support includes the enhanced loan products Business Finance Guarantee Scheme, which is available to June 2021 and Small Business Cashflow Scheme.
For more information, please visit https://covid19.govt.nz/
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