A lot of us are experiencing various disruptions due to Covid outbreak at the moment, so we wanted to remind you that there is various types of Goverment support available. If your business is experiencing disruptions such as supply chain issues (or maybe your customers are), your production and sales are down, or you have staff off sick/ isolating, you will most likely be able to apply for one of the following payments/schemes:
The COVID-19 Support Payment (CSP)
Available for businesses or those that are self-employed who have experienced a 40% drop in revenue for 7 days in a row during an affected revenue period because of one or more of the following circumstances:
• The widespread presence of COVID-19 in the New Zealand community.
• The legislative public health measures taken in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the New Zealand community.
• Any business circumstances that are, or are reasonably likely to be, a consequence of the circumstances described above.
Payments are $4,000 per business, as well as $400 per full-time employee (FTE), up to a maximum of 50 FTE’s ($24,000)
There will be 3 CSP payments available, and the affected revenue periods (for any 7 days in these periods) are as follows:
• First CSP – 16 February 2022 to 4 April 2022.
• Second CSP – 7 March 2022 to 4 April 2022.
• Third CSP – 21 March 2022 to 4 April 2022.
To work out the drop in revenue you need to compare a typical 7-days in one of the above affected revenue periods with a 7-day period between the 5th of January 2022 and 15 February 2022.
From the 14th of March you can also compare the above affected revenue period with the same dates in 2021. (5th of January 2021 to 15 February 2021)
For more eligibility details and the link to apply click here.
The COVID-19 Short Term Absence Payment
If you or your employee is sick, cannot work from home and awaiting results from a PCR Test –
Your business may be able to apply for a one-off payment of $359 per eligible employee. For more details, eligibility and the link to apply click here.
The COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme
If you or your employee has Covid, or has been advised to self isolate and they cannot work from home:
Your business may be able to apply for a one-week payment of $600 for full-time employees (over 20 hours), and $359 for part-time employees (less than 20 hours). For more details, eligibility and the link to apply click here.
The Small Business Cash Flow Loan Scheme
A loan available for eligible small businesses including sole traders and those those that are self employed who have been impacted by COVID-19 to help support their cash flow needs.
In our previous newsletter we mentioned that the base loan for this scheme would be increasing from $10,000 to $20,000. The IRD has now added to these details so that eligible businesses can also borrow $1,800 per full time equivalent employee (up to 50 employees).
For more details, eligibility and the link to apply click here.
Businesses with over 50 full-time staff are not eligible.
Upcoming Changes to the Red Traffic Light System
From 11:59pm Last Friday (25/03)
- You no longer have to scan vaccine passes or have mandatory record keeping.
- There are no limits for outdoor gatherings/events and for food & drink businesses. The limit for indoor gatherings/events will be limited to 200 people but My Vaccine Passes are still required until 11:59pm on 4 April for both these instances.
- You don’t need to wear face masks outdoors anymore but they are still required in most indoor settings.
From 11:59pm Monday 4th of April 2022:
There will no longer be a requirement to use my vaccine passes, and some vaccine mandates for Government workers will be removed. The workers that will still be covered by the Government Vaccine mandates include health & disability workers, prison staff, border and MIQ workers.
Businesses will still have the option to use my vaccine passes if they would like to.
You can read more here. They will also be posting some more updates over the next few days.
Minimum Wage Increase Reminder
The minimum wage is increasing from Friday 1 April 2022 from $20 to $21.20 per hour. The starting-out and training minimum wage will also increase from $16 to $16.96 per hour.