Type of Intervention: Financial and Economic
Sectors Involved: Finance/Economy
Level of Jurisdiction: National
Lead People/Agency: NZ Government – Ministry of Finance
Overview: The Government is providing certainty to businesses and workers about what support will be available in the event of a resurgence of COVID-19.
This includes:
– A new Resurgence Support Payment to help businesses directly affected when there’s a move to Alert Level 2 or above for a week or more. This will help sectors like hospitality and events, who face particular disruptions as Alert Levels change.
– The Wage Subsidy Scheme has been very effective in keeping people in work so far with more than $14 billion paid out to protect 1.8 million jobs. It will continue to be available at Alert Levels 3 and 4.
– The Leave Support Scheme will remain in place and include a new short-term absence payment to cover eligible workers who need to stay at home for 1 to 3 days while awaiting a COVID-19 test result. This will be a one-off payment of $350 to employers, available in early 2021.
– The Business Finance Guarantee Scheme and Small Business Cashflow Scheme have recently been extended.
Full details here: https://covid19.govt.nz/updates-and-resources/latest-updates/financial-support-plan-for-businesses-if-theres-a-covid-19-resurgence/
Other links: 1
Type of Justification: Perception of an increased threat
Source of Evidence or Justification: National – other
Evidence/Justification: NZ Finance Minister Grant Robertson said it recognised that “some businesses face one-off costs or impacts to cashflow when we step up an alert level to follow public health advice”.