The COVID-19 Wage Subsidy payment scheme is being reactivated.
The Wage Subsidy will support employers and self-employed people to continue paying employees if their business was affected by the rise in Alert Levels on February 28, 2021.
Applications will open on Thursday, March 4, at 1pm.
To qualify, your business needs to experience a 40 per cent decline in revenue over a consecutive 14-day period between February 28 and March 21, compared to a typical 14-day period between January 4 and February 14, 2021 (six weeks before the change in Alert Levels).
This is available to businesses throughout New Zealand.
The Wage Subsidy will be paid for two weeks at the rate of:
- $585.80 a week for each full-time employee retained (20 hours a week or more)
- $350 a week for each part-time employee retained (less than 20 hours a week).
BusinessNZ has welcomed the announcement.
Chief executive Kirk Hope saysthe extension of the Wage Subsidy recognised the loss of revenue experienced by businesses in other parts of New Zealand because of Auckland’s level 3 restrictions.
"The need to assist employers to protect employees’ jobs has become greater as the lockdown restrictions continue," he says.
"Many businesses are finding their financial health slowly slipping away, and the Wage Subsidy is one means by which they can help safeguard the ability to pay staff over this difficult time. It is one of the support resources available that can help firms begin to focus on recovery in future."
