As you would have read in the news, the government has announced yesterday a support package for those financially affected by the Coronavirus Outbreak and Change In Alert levels.
WAGE SUBSIDY IS NOW AVAILABLE AS WE HAVE MOVED TO LEVEL 4 FOR 7 DAYS
If you're an employer, contractor, sole trader or self-employed, you may qualify to get the COVID-19 wage subsidy. This applies to anywhere in NZ.
To qualify:
Your business must be registered and operating in New Zealand
Your employees must be legally working in New Zealand
The business must expect a 40% decline in actual or predicted revenue over the period, and that decline is related to COVID-19
How much you can get:
The COVID-19 Wage Subsidy will be paid at a flat rate of:
$600.00 for people working 20 hours or more per week
$359.00 for people working less than 20 hours per week.
The subsidy is paid as a lump sum and covers 2 weeks per employee.
This subsidy is for wages only. It is to help you keep your staff employed while you consider changes that may be needed while the disruption continues, and to ensure the future viability of your business.
For more details of the criteria and definition, please go here:
RESURGENCE SUPPORT PAYMENT FOR CHANGES IN ALERT LEVELS
What the RSP is
Each time the COVID-19 alert level is increased from level 1, the Government may decide to activate the Resurgence Support Payment. It will generally be activated when the period of increased alert level is 7 days or longer, but this is not guaranteed. Once the RSP has been activated it will be available nationally, even if the alert level isn't increased across the whole country.
How the RSP works
A business or organisation must have experienced at least a 30% drop in revenue or a 30% decline in capital-raising ability over a 7-day period, due to the increased COVID-19 alert level.
Once activated any business in New Zealand that has experienced a 30% drop in revenue or capital raising ability over a 7 day period as a result of the alert level increase would be eligible (subject to all other criteria being met).
When the RSP is activated, eligible businesses and organisations can apply to receive the lesser of:
$1,500 plus $400 per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee, up to a maximum of 50 FTEs
four times (4x) the actual revenue decline experienced by the applicant.
For more information see here
LEAVE SUPPORT SCHEME and SHORT TERM ABSENCE PAYMENT
The Leave Support 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, who must self-isolate and cannot work from home.
The Short-Term Absence Payment (STAP) provides a one-off (once per 30 days) $350 payment for workers who must miss work due to a COVID-19 test and cannot work from home.
More Information can be found here:
As always, OneTeam is here to assist if you have any queries. Together we are OneTeam.