New rounds of financial support
Additional financial support has been announced and from Friday 17 September, eligible businesses will be able to apply for new rounds of the:
- Resurgence Support Payment
- Wage Subsidy Scheme.
You can apply for either scheme whether you’ve received previous payments or not.
Resurgence Support Payment
A second Resurgence Support Payment has also been announced for the alert level increase announced on 17 August 2021.
Applications for this second payment have been open from 8am on Friday 17 September. Businesses and organisations will be able to apply for the second payment, even if they have received the first payment.
Applications will remain open for one month after a nationwide return to Alert Level 1.
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.
Businesses and organisations will be eligible if they experience a 30% drop in revenue over a seven day period after an alert level increase and meet other eligibility criteria. For the first payment the seven-day period must start on or after 17 August. For the second payment the seven-day period must start on or after 8 September. This drop is compared to a typical seven-day period in the six weeks before the increase in alert level. Seasonal businesses should show a 30% revenue drop compared with a similar week the previous year.
The decline in revenue must be a result of the specific alert level change, not just COVID-19 in general. You must have been in business for at least one month prior to the alert level change on 17 August 2021 to be eligible to apply.
Charities, not-for-profit organisations, the self-employed and pre-revenue businesses, such as start-ups may also be eligible.
This payment is not a loan, so does not need to be repaid. The payment must be used to help cover business expenses such as wages and fixed costs.
Commonly owned groups
There have been some recent changes to the eligibility criteria for commonly owned groups. A commonly owned group generally consists of businesses that have the same owners. Some individual businesses or organisations within a commonly owned group may now be eligible for RSP. You can find examples of commonly owned groups and more eligibility criteria for the RSP on the Inland Revenue website.
You can also calculate how much you may be entitled to and how to apply on Inland Revenue’s website.
Eligibility for the Resurgence Support Payment – Inland Revenue
Apply for the Resurgence Support Payment – Inland Revenue
Wage Subsidy Scheme
The Wage Subsidy is a payment to support eligible businesses, organisations and the self-employed affected by Alert Levels 3 and 4, so they can continue to pay employees and protect jobs.
You can apply for the Wage Subsidy regardless of where your business is located in New Zealand. However, your business must have been affected by the continuation of Alert Level 3 or 4.
The Wage Subsidy is paid in two-week periods. Since the alert level change on 17 August 2021, three rounds of the scheme have been announced: Wage Subsidy August 2021, Wage Subsidy August 2021 #2 and Wage Subsidy August 2021 #3.
Wage Subsidy August 2021: Applications for the first round, Wage Subsidy August 2021, have now closed.
Wage Subsidy August 2021 #2: Applications for the second round, Wage Subsidy August 2021 #2, opened on Friday 3 September and will remain open until 11.59pm on Thursday 16 September.
On 10 September, the Government clarified that the revenue decline test for the Wage Subsidy August 2021 #2 includes the effect of Alert Level 2 on businesses as well as the continuation of Alert Levels 3 and 4 from 17 August 2021.
Wage Subsidy August 2021 #3: Applications for the third round, Wage Subsidy August 2021 #3, will open at 9am on Friday 17 September and will remain open until 11.59pm on Thursday 30 September.
The revenue test period for Wage Subsidy #3 will be 14-27 September 2021.
You can apply for more than one round of the wage subsidies, two weeks after your previous application, if you meet eligibility criteria. If you applied for a previous round and were eligible, Work and Income will email you to let you know when to apply for the next round. Don’t send in early applications, they won’t be accepted as each payment is for a two-week period. If you didn’t apply for the initial Wage Subsidy you can apply for Wage Subsidy #2 or Wage Subsidy #3, if you meet eligibility criteria.
To reflect higher wage costs since the scheme was first used in March 2020 the payments have been increased to:
- $600 per week per full-time employee
- $359 per week per part-time employee.
Information on the Wage Subsidy Scheme (external link) – Work and Income
