If your business has recently been impacted by the latest Queensland based covid-19 lockdown, you might be eligible to receive financial support via the 2021 Covid-19 Business Support Grants.
These grants worth $5,000 will be available for small and medium businesses located across Queensland who have been impacted by the lockdown which commenced on Saturday 31st July 2021.
The Queensland Government recognises the short interval between lockdowns in South East Queensland, and the difficulties faced by regional economies who are impacted by multiple border closures. These $5,000 grants will provide cash flow support for businesses to help them adapt as the current covid-19 outbreak continues to pose a risk of circulating in the community.
Available Funding
Your business may be eligible to receive a grant of $5,000 (excluding GST). This grant may be used for business expenses.
Eligibility Criteria
The grant provides support to employing small and medium businesses across Queensland impacted by the South East Queensland lockdown that commenced on Saturday 31st July 2021.
To be deemed eligible your business doesn’t have to be located in South East Queensland, but you must have experienced at least a 30 percent reduction in turnover as a result of the lockdown.
Grants are also available for large businesses in the hospitality and tourism sector operating in the 11 local government areas in the lockdown, subject to meeting eligibility criteria.
Small and medium businesses are defined as having:
- a turnover of more than $75,000 per annum
- an annual payroll in Queensland of up to $10 million.
Local government areas subject to lockdown restrictions are:
- Brisbane City Council
- Gold Coast City Council
- Ipswich City Council
- Lockyer Valley Regional Council
- Logan City Council
- Moreton Bay Regional Council
- Noosa Shire Council
- Redland City Council
- Scenic Rim Regional Council
- Somerset Regional Council
- Sunshine Coast Regional Council.
More information on eligibility criteria will be available in the coming days.
Applications Will Open In Mid-August.
When applying for the grants, you will need to apply online with supporting evidence. Grants will be processed in the order we receive them.
You will be paid the grant funds within two weeks of being notified that your application has been approved.
More information on how to apply, including the opening date for applications, will be available in the coming days.
NSW Government Opens Applications For JobSaver
On Monday 26th July, applications for the JobSaver scheme opened for NSW based businesses who have been impacted by the latest covid-19 lockdown. Applicants who are successful will receive 40 percent of their weekly payroll, at a minimum of $1,500 and a maximum of $10,000 per week, as long as they maintain their full-time, part-time and long-term casual staffing level as of 13 July.
Non-employing businesses, such as sole traders, can expect $1,000 payments per week.
Payments distributed to businesses under the JobSaver scheme will be paid on a fortnightly basis by Service NSW and will be backdated to 18 July 2021 which was week 4 of the Greater Sydney lockdown. Businesses who suffered a decline in turnover for the first three weeks of restrictions will be covered by the 2021 Covid-19 Business Grant.
To be eligible, businesses must have a turnover of between $75,000 and $50 million for the financial year that ended 30th June 2020, and demonstrate a decline in turnover of 30 percent or more over a minimum two-week period from the start of the Greater Sydney lockdown on 26th June, compared to the same period in 2019.
Service NSW has admitted that some businesses will not meet the eligibility criteria but may still be eligible for JobSaver.
This means that new businesses, or those who were operating under unusual trading conditions in 2019, are encouraged to contact Service NSW directly to ascertain their eligibility.
In line with the business grant program, businesses in highly impacted industries will be required to provide details of their qualified accountant, registered tax agent or registered BAS agent for compliance checking, while businesses outside the highly impacted industries list will be required to produce a letter from their practitioner that verifies their decline in turnover.
Letters used for the business grant program can be resubmitted when applying for JobSaver.