16 August 2021
Service NSW have updated the rules surrounding eligibility for the NSW JobSaver Payment & COVID-19 business grant and have had a significant focus on educating business to ensure the rules are operating as intended. To follow is a broad summary of the key changes and messages that are being relayed.
General Background
The fundamental purpose of these programs is to ensure that businesses in NSW will survive through the current COVID-19 restrictions and be able to continue operating once the restrictions are removed.
The COVID-19 business grant is a one off grant of $7,500, $10,500 or $15,000 and is designed to support business that experienced reduced demand or had to close due to the public health orders through the first 3 weeks of the COVID-19 restrictions (26 June to 17 July 2021) to cover their business costs. Applications for this grant will close after 13 September 2021.
The JobSaver payment was then introduced to provide continuing fortnightly cash flow support to business that experienced reduced demand or had to close due to the public health orders to cover costs incurred from week 4 of the COVID-19 restrictions (i.e. from 18 July 2021 onwards).
It is important to note that these programs are NSW based programs and JobSaver is not an extension of the former federal JobKeeper program, the rules are very different.
Service NSW have also been stressing that while these funds are available to support eligible business in NSW, there are limited funds and have asked businesses to only apply for the programs if they are really in need of the support.
Key eligibility changes
The main change to eligibility for both programs was the introduction of multiple comparison periods for the reduction in turnover requirement.
The purpose of providing these additional comparison periods was to make it easier for impacted business to access the support by recognising that there have been many external factors impacting business in recent years and to provide further options for business to pick a comparison period that represents their typical level of turnover.
If your business was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions but does not satisfy the general rules, Service NSW still encourages you to contact them directly so they can consider your business's particular circumstances.
Key eligibility considerations that are often overlooked
The above information certainly does not cover all of the eligibility requirements but full details on the programs including links to the guidelines, terms and conditions, answers to common questions and the application process itself can be accessed using these links:
Please contact your local Boyce representative for any help or assistance.