If you're a freelance contractor in the arts who is losing work, you may be eligible for the government's recently announced COVID-19 wage subsidy.
Wage Subsidy Information
The Government has put together a COVID-19 Wage Subsidy for employers in all regions.
It’s to support your business if you're impacted by COVID and face laying off staff or reducing their hours because of COVID-19.
Who can get it?
If you're an employer, contractor, sole trader or self-employed, you may qualify to get the COVID-19 wage subsidy.
To qualify:
your business must be registered and operating in New Zealand | your employees must be legally working in New Zealand | the business must have experienced a minimum 30% decline in actual or predicted revenue over the period of a month when compared with the same month last year, and that decline is related to COVID-19 | your business must have taken active steps to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 | you must make best efforts to retain employees and pay them a minimum of 80% of their normal income for the subsidised period.
How much you can get
The COVID-19 Wage Subsidy will be paid at a flat rate of:
$585.80 for people working 20 hours or more per week
$350.00 for people working less than 20 hours per week.
The subsidy is paid as a lump sum and covers 12 weeks per employee.
This subsidy is for wages only. It is to help you keep your staff employed while you consider changes that may be needed while the disruption continues, and to ensure the future viability of your business.
The maximum subsidy that can be paid to a business is $150,000. Businesses can only get this subsidy once.
For more information, visit the website here.