July 2021 saw several states introducing public health restrictions of varying intensities to combat outbreaks of COVID-19 in the community. Federal and state governments introduced or modified financial support for businesses and workers that are affected by the lockdowns and COVID-19.
More details of the payments are available in Ai Group’s member advice: NAT 123/21 – New Economic Support for Businesses and Employees (July and August 2021).
JobSaver is the NSW badging for the COVID-19 Business Support measure being delivered through Service NSW.
Businesses with an annual national aggregated turnover of between $75,000 and $250 million who can demonstrate a 30 per cent turnover decline may be eligible for a payment of 40 per cent of their weekly payroll for work performed in NSW with a minimum JobSaver payment of $1,500 per week and a maximum of $100,000 per week.
A key requirement is that eligibility will be conditional on businesses maintaining their employee headcount as at 13 July by not taking active steps to terminate their employment. An employee can be ‘maintained’ even if they are not earning an income from the business because they have been temporarily stood down.
See NSW JobSaver Eligibility and Application Information for further information.
Businesses with annual wages bills of $10 million or less may be eligible for a grant ranging from $7,500 to $15,000. The grant may be used for business expenses such as rent, utilities and wages where no other government support is available.
The amount of the grant is dependant on the decline in turnover experienced during the restrictions, started with a minimum of 30% downturn, and peaking at 70% downturn.
To be eligible, businesses must also have had an aggregated annual turnover between $75,000 and $50 million, and maintain their employee headcount as at 13 July 2021. For full details of eligibility criteria see: NSW Business Grant.
Businesses with turnover of between $30,000 and $75,000 experiencing a decline of 30 per cent to turnover or more may be eligible for a fortnightly grant of up to $1,500. See Micro Business Grant.
NSW Businesses may be eligible for a waiver or deferral of payroll tax. For details see Payroll tax assistance.
Commercial and retail landlords may be eligible for a land tax concession where they reduce the rent of their tenant. See NSW commercial landlords and tenants.
On 28 July 2021, support for Victorian businesses was enhanced with measures jointly funded by the federal and Victorian Governments.
The new business continuity fund replaces the previous Business Cost Assistance Program and will provide grants of $5,000 to businesses (and $7,000 for businesses located in the Melbourne CBD) impacted by public health restrictions. Recipients will have received, or have been eligible for grants under the previous Business Costs Assistance Program.
The Licenced Hospitality Venue Fund will now provide grants of up to $20,000 (and $22,000 if the business is located in the Melbourne CBD) to support licensed venues impacted by current restrictions. To receive this funding, venues will need to have received or been eligible for the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund 2021.
This Victorian Government program will provide support to landlords that provide rent relief to their tenants and will reinstate the Commercial Tenancies Relief Scheme.
This is a new fund designed to support small businesses who have not been eligible under existing business support funds. It will provide grants of up to $5,000 to businesses with a payroll of up to $10 million who have experienced a 70 per cent or greater reduction in revenue.
Grants of between $5,000 and $20,000 are available to alpine-based businesses in recognition of restricted inter and intra-state travel during the peak winter season. See here for information.
The South Australian Government has introduced a COVID-19 Business Support Grant for small and medium-sized businesses that experience a significant loss of income due to the restrictions imposed from 20 July 2021. A significant loss of income is assessed as occurring if the business experienced a reduction in turnover of 30 per cent or more in the week commencing 20 July. It is a one-off cash grant of $3,000 for businesses with employees or $1,000 for non-employing businesses.
To be eligible a business needs to:
To be eligible for the $3,000 grant for employing businesses, the business needs to meet the criteria above; must employ people in South Australia; and have an Australia-wide payroll of less than $10 million in 2019-20.
South Australian businesses can register for the Business Support Grant at this link.
The Queensland government has introduced a COVID-19 Business Support Grant of up to $5,000 for small and medium businesses affected by the lockdown that commenced on Saturday 31 July 2021 and lockdowns in other states.
To be eligible a business must have an annual turnover of more than $75,000, and annual payroll in Queensland of no more than $10 million.
More information can be found on the 2021 COVID-19 Business Support Grants page.
There are two types of payments for workers available through Services Australia:
For both payments, employers are not directly involved in the application process. Employees must lodge their own application for payment with Services Australia.
The COVID-19 Disaster Payment provides support for employees who are unable to earn income from work because of a lockdown.
A worker may be eligible for the payment if they only lose work on one day of the lockdown. There are several eligibility requirements, including not being able to access any paid pandemic leave entitlements from their employer. Employees are not required to exhaust their annual leave, personal leave or long service leave to access the payment.
Details are available from the Services Australia website: COVID-19 Disaster Payment.
The Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment provides support to employees who cannot earn an income because they are required to self-isolate or quarantine, for example because the employee has COVID-19, or has been a close contact of a confirmed case.
To be eligible, the employee must have been directed to isolate by a state health authority.
Details are available from the Services Australia website: Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment.
