Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced that as the Lockdown for New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula will be 7 days, businesses in the city and region can apply for the government’s wage subsidy.
Although the Lockdown for the rest of New Zealand is expected to last for 3 days, businesses outside of Auckland and Coromandel can apply for the subsidy if they believe their revenue will be reduced by 40 percent as a result of the Lockdown.
The wage subsidy has been adjusted to reflect the increase of wages since the first Level 4 Lockdown in March 2020. This means businesses will be eligible as follows:
Full-time equivalent employees, $600.00 per week
Part-time equivalent employees, $359.00 per week.
Employers can apply for a wage subsidy on Friday, 20 August. The first payments should be made after three days and will be paid as a two-week lump sum.
The government has also made available the Resurgence Support Payment. This is available to businesses who incur a loss of 30 percent of revenue from the Lockdown conditions. The payments are up to $1,500.00 plus $400.00 per full time equivalent employee, up to a maximum of 50 full time employees. The total which a business could expect would be up to $21,500.00.
For businesses who have staff that cannot work from home and must self isolate, the government offers, the Leave Support Scheme. The scheme provides a two-week lump sum payment of either $585.80 per week for full-time workers, or $350 per week for part-time workers.
Another payment which businesses may qualify for is, the Short-Term Absence Payment which provides a one-off (once per 30 days) $350 payment. This is businesses that have workers who must not attend work due to a COVID-19 test and cannot work from home.
Further information and criteria is available from Work and Income.
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/covid-19/leave-support-scheme/who-can-get-it.html
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