COVID-19 August 2021
It is the last thing any of us wanted, but we find ourselves in this unfortunate lock down again.
There are several options available to businesses, but there are slight differences from before.
Wage Subsidy:
You can apply for a contribution towards the wages of your employees (or yourself, if you are self-employed) for a two week period.
When you apply for the COVID-19 Wage Subsidy August 2021 you must not also be receiving a payment for the Short-term Absence Payment, Leave Support Scheme or Essential Workers Support Scheme in respect of any of the employees named in your application.
Your business must meet the revenue decline test (40%) and retain evidence pertaining to this decline
Payment Rates:
The Wage Subsidy August 2021 will cover a two week period at the rate of:
- $600 a week for each full-time employee retained (20 hours a week or more)
- $359 a week for each part-time employee retained (less than 20 hours a week).
For full details and how to apply, see this link.
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/covid-19/wage-subsidy/index.html
Covid Leave Support Scheme:
The COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme is available for employers, including self-employed people, to help pay their employees who need to self-isolate and can’t work from home.
This means your workers:
- can’t come into work because they are in one of the affected groups and have been told to self-isolate, and
- can’t work from home.
For full details and how to apply, see this link.
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/covid-19/leave-support-scheme/index.html
Covid Short Term Absence Payment:
The COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment is available for businesses, including self-employed people, to help pay their workers who cannot work from home while they wait for a COVID-19 test result.
There’s a one-off payment of $350 for each eligible worker. You can only apply for it once, for each eligible worker, in any 30-day period (unless a health official or doctor tells the worker to get another test).
It’s also available to self-employed workers.
For full details and how to apply, see this link.
https://workandincome.govt.nz/covid-19/short-term-absence-payment/index.html
Covid Resurgence Support Payment (RSP):
The Resurgence Support Payment (RSP) is a payment to help support viable and ongoing businesses or organisations due to a COVID-19 alert level increase to level 2 or higher. If your business or organisation is facing a reduction in revenue due to an alert level increase, you may be eligible for the RSP.
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.
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 full details and how to apply, see this link.
Penny Varley
Payroll Administrator