Find Out What Support Is Available!
Mar 01, 2021
There are different types of support available for businesses and employees that are affected by COVID-19, the changes to alert levels and the pressures of not being able to attend work. The Government have created a COVID-19 Financial Support tool to help break down what financial support may be available. Use the tool here! Or find out more below.
Short Term Absence Payment:
If you’re staying at home because you’re waiting on a COVID-19 test result and you cannot work from home, your employer could apply for the COVID-19 Short-term Absence Payment. This payment is also available to self-employed people.
The payment helps businesses keep paying employees who:
- Cannot work from home, and
- Need to stay at home while waiting on a COVID-19 test result.
A one-off payment of $350 is available for each employee. Your employer can apply for it once for you in any 30-day period. However, they can apply for it again if a health official or doctor tells you to get another test.
Leave Support Scheme:
If you need to self-isolate and you cannot work from home, your employer (or you, if you are self-employed) can apply for the COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme.
Your employer can apply for the payment if you are not able to be at work, cannot work from home and have advised them that:
- you have COVID-19 and must self-isolate until a medical practitioner advises you can leave self-isolation
- you are identified as a close contact of someone who has COVID-19, and you have been advised to self-isolate by a medical practitioner or through the National Contact Tracing process
- you are the parent or caregiver of a dependant who has been advised to self-isolate
- you are, or you have household members who are, most at risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and have been advised by a medical practitioner to self-isolate.
The COVID-19 Leave Support is paid as a lump sum, calculated to cover 2 weeks. Your employer can re-apply for you if you still qualify after 2 weeks.
Resurgence Support Payment:
The COVID-19 Resurgence Support Payment helps businesses directly affected when there’s an increase from Alert Level 1 for a week or more. It helps to cover wages and fixed costs.
To be eligible for the payment, your business must have experienced at least a 30% drop in revenue or capital-raising ability over a 7 day period after the increased Alert Level, and meet other criteria.
Eligible businesses can apply to receive the lesser of:
- $1,500 plus $400 per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee, up to a maximum of 50 FTEs, or
- 4 times (4x) the actual revenue drop experienced by the business.
Redundancy Support:
Experiencing job loss could be a reality for many due to COVID-19. If you have lost your job or you run a business are faced with laying off employees there are more support options available. Find out more on the Work and Income website now
To find out more about any of the above support and to apply head to the Work and Income site here