The Minister of Finance, Hon Grant Robertson, has announced a second payment of the Resurgence Support Payment (RSP) for the alert level increase that started on 17 August.
The announcement says businesses will need to show a 30% or more drop in revenue in a 7-day period from 8 September until immediately before all of New Zealand returns to Alert Level 1 compared to a typical 7-day period in the 6 weeks before 17 August.
The payment will stay as $1,500 plus $400 per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee up to a maximum of 50 FTEs, or 4 times the actual revenue decline experienced by the applicant, whichever is less.
Applications will open for the second payment at 8am on Friday 17 September on Inland Revenue’s website, ird.govt.nz
Businesses and organisations will be able to apply for the second payment even if they have received the first payment.
Applications for both payments will remain open until 1 month after the whole of Aotearoa New Zealand returns to alert level 1.
The additional resurgence payment comes off the back of a petition with more than 60,000 signatures calling for more government support.
The petition was spearheaded by Auckland Business Chamber and distributed throughout the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce network, of which Tauranga Chamber of Commerce is a member.
The petition saw small-to-medium businesses nationwide call for the government to do more to support business owners and help them cover costs incurred due to the latest lockdown.
The result is the extension of the resurgence payment support scheme to help them cover some recurring costs, from rents to GST, while they cannot operate due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce CEO Matt Cowley says he is pleased with the outcome, and that Ministers Robertson and Nash have responded positively to the concerns of local businesses.
